Age is the Great Equalizer

Just about this time 40 years ago, we were starting senior year. Up until senior year, we all had our little groups – the jocks, the smokers, the brains, the band players, and the folks from Piney or from Steekee or from Philadelphia or wherever in the county they came from. Sometimes the groups intermingled and sometimes they didn’t, but as senior year progressed, it seemed like the little groups lost some of their pull and we slowly melded into one larger group --- a group that would end the year with what would be, up until that time, the biggest event of our lives.

On that first day of senior year, some of us already knew they would attend this or that college or take their place in the family business or the family farm. Others had big career dreams while others thought of nothing more that settling down right there in our hometown. Also, most of the guys had to deal with the draft in one way or another before they could set their sights on anything at all.

Finally, we were all converging on that one special event, and over the course of the year, it seemed to draw us closer together. We were beginning to realize that in a very few short months we would no longer be around some of the friends that, in some cases, we had seen every school day for 12 years.

Now, these many years later, we have reached a spot where we are beginning to have more in common than at no other time since that magical year. We each took a separate path to get to where we are; but the paths that split back then are, in some ways, starting to converge once again. We had our youth and freshness in common then and now it’s our maturity.

We used to tell each other our dreams and schemes and now we can share some of the many joys and a few of the scars from the lives we’ve lived. We all started out with high hopes and goals and with a bit of luck we accomplished most of them, and there are some we may still be working on, and others yet that we’ve had to bury. We’ve all had the joys and sorrows, the laughter and tears, and the achievements and the scars that come from living.

Sometimes however, I think our biggest fear is that as we look in the mirror at the grey hair and wrinkles – the face that looks more and more like our parents – in the back of our minds we somehow think that everyone else has escaped the process of time; that when we walk into that room at the reunion we will be looking at those same fresh faces we remember from so long ago. And honestly, I also think that as much as we are afraid we’ll see those faces, at the same time there‘s a part of us that is afraid we won’t.

After all, we are here, 40 years later, and and big part of us accepts that, but part of us never will.

I Found These and Thought They Fit

It was my class reunion, and all through the house,
I checked in each mirror and begged my poor spouse
To say I looked great, that my chin wasn't double,
And he lied through false teeth, just to stay out of trouble.
Said that 'neath my thick glasses, my eyes hadn't changed,
And I had the same figure, it was just a mite rearranged.
He said my skin was still silky, although looser in drape,
Not so much like smooth satin, but more like silk crepe.
I swallowed his words hook, sinker and line
And entered the banquet feeling just fine.
Somehow I'd expected my classmates to stay
As young as they were on that long-ago day
We'd hugged farewell hugs. But like me, through the years,
They'd added gray to their hair, or pounds to their rears.
But as we shared a few memories and retold some class jokes,
We were eighteen in spirit, though we looked like our folks.
We turned up hearing aid volumes and dimmed down the light,
Rolled back the years, and were young for the night.

(Elizabeth Lucas)

And this one says it all....

Every ten years, as summertime nears,
An announcement arrives in the mail,
"A reunion is planned; it'll be really grand;
Make plans to attend without fail.

I'll never forget the first time we met;
We tried so hard to impress.
We drove fancy cars, smoked big cigars,
And wore our most elegant dress.

It was quite an affair; the whole class was there.
It was held at a fancy hotel.
We wined, and we dined, and we acted refined,
And everyone thought it was swell.

The men all conversed about who had been first
To achieve great fortune and fame.
Meanwhile, their spouses described their fine houses
And how beautiful their children became.

The homecoming queen, who once had been lean,
Now weighed in at one-ninety-six.
The jocks who were there had all lost their hair,
And the cheerleaders could no longer do kicks.

No one had heard about the class nerd
Who'd guided a spacecraft to the moon;
Or poor little Jane, who's always been plain;
She married a shipping tycoon.

The boy we'd decreed "most apt to succeed"
Was serving ten years in the pen,
While the one voted "least" now was a priest;
Just shows you can be wrong now and then.

They awarded a prize to one of the guys
Who seemed to have aged the least.
Another was given to the grad who had driven
The farthest to attend the feast.

They took a class picture, a curious mixture
Of beehives, crew cuts and wide ties.
Tall, short, or skinny, the style was the mini;
You never saw so many thighs.

At our next get-together, no one cared whether
They impressed their classmates or not.
The mood was informal, a whole lot more normal;
By this time we'd all gone to pot.

It was held out-of-doors, at the lake shores;
We ate hamburgers, coleslaw, and beans.
Then most of us lay around in the shade,
In our comfortable T-shirts and jeans.

By the fortieth year, it was abundantly clear,
We were definitely over the hill.
Those who weren't dead had to crawl out of bed,
And be home in time for their pill.

And now I can't wait; they've set the date;
Our fiftieth is coming, I'm told.
It should be a ball, they've rented a hall
At the Shady Rest Home for the old.

Repairs have been made on my hearing aid;
My pacemaker's been turned up on high.
My wheelchair is oiled, and my teeth have been boiled;
And I've bought a new wig and glass eye.

I'm feeling quite hearty, and I'm ready to party;
I'm gonna dance 'til dawn's early light.
It'll be lots of fun; I just hope that there's one
Other person who can make it that night.

Another Look Down

When you were a kid the world ended at the next turn or hill. All you knew was the world you could see. Loudon seemed so large back then. Other people called it small but when it's the only world you knew, it wasn't all that small. There were places to go to get away if you wanted a little time alone by yourself or that certain someone. Now look at it: (you can click on it to make it bigger)



It fits on one page. From about the high school near the lower left to about the drive in on the upper right. One page.

The river didn't seem to meander as much as it really does, did it? And all those times I walked along Steekee Road, it never occurred to me that just the other side of that ridge line was Robinson Road. I never put two and two together.

Here's another way of looking at it:



The bumpy view. Hospital Hill really does dominate the area doesn't it. And Fort Hill, where the old high school was is prominate on the other side of town. That depression just to the southwest of Fort Hill that leads down to the river is real, I can attest to that. It was steep enough that if you jumped the fence behind the old Junior High School you could be down to the river before anyone noticed you were gone.

Sometimes I really miss that small world.

Reunion Memories

What are some of your favorite reunion memories?

My top favorite was the 20th, and I've heard several people say the same thing. The setting was good, the crowd was super, and it was a great time. Everyone seemed to be into it and genuinely happy to see each other. There were no comparisons of jobs or houses or cars or stock portfolios. None of that kind of stuff. Just a group of people enjoying themselves and having a great time being together.

The night before the 10th (I think) at Gordo's house. It started at the pool beside the school and ended up at Gordo's. Okay, so a bunch of us got sh*t-faced, it was still a good time. Everybody was loose and relaxed.

The class only breakfast before which, the 25th? Looking over the school together and remembering so much. I was surprised at the things people remembered, things I had long forgotten or didn't even know about.

Will the 49th be a good memory? I sure hope so. Okay, so maybe I'm having a flash back or something but I would like to see everybody there. Wouldn't that be a hoot? I think so.