Thursday, November 12, 2015

50 YEARS LATER


For those of you who feel a little lonely, adore the good ole days, want to be in touch with zillions of people or just like being inundated with 7000 emails a week, I have the perfect solution for you. Go to the web site for your 50th high school reunion and bingo. You'll never again have to worry about connecting with others. Oh my God. It's crazy!

I graduated high school in 1966. I know. I'm old. But regardless... I was in a graduating class with over 1000 kids. And those were only the seniors. Although at the time, I do have to say: I never felt lost in a crowd of maybe 3000. Obviously I didn't know every student, but somehow I never felt overwhelmed. Back then I probably recognized everyone I passed walking down the school hallways every day, but naturally now, I have no clue who half the people on the class list are. On the other hand.. the other 500 people are names I sort of recognize and then of course... there are the many people who I totally recognize and/or knew personally. That's the best part, btw. Reconnecting with those who were in your particular crowd.

From the pictures many of us have uploaded, I do have to say that the women seem much more recognizable to me than the men. And many of the pictures totally look like people I've never seen before in my entire life. At that point I have to check out the names attached to the shots, and sometimes even then they look like total strangers. No wonder. It's 50 years later! Talk about a total lifetime ago.

The most shocking part is the IN MEMORY section where you see all my classmates who have passed away. In a list of about 100, two were very close to me until the day they died. Several others were merely those with whom I was friendly in school. It's just totally freaky going down the name list, noting they are gone forever. It makes you feel so grateful that you're still around, still feeling pretty decent, still looking relatively damn good given our age and still able to enjoy life regardless of whether or not you're attending the reunion. Anyway...

I do get a kick out of seeing what so many of us look like 50 years later. It totally brings back memories of all the girls for instance, with whom I was friends since I was in first grade. I  played with so many of them, spent the nights with them, bicycled to their houses and even remember their siblings and parents. Whether or not they necessarily remember ME, I have no clue but it matters not for in reality, I had a perfectly wonderful childhood and youth.

To imagine that 50 years have gone by since high school can be somewhat startling. I must have lived two more lives since then. I graduated college. I married twice. I raised children. I taught. I went through the sex, drugs and rock and roll phase. And then... bingo. Next thing you know, I'm a retired old lady. Meaning I'm totally into the last years of my life. I have no major terminal illness, thank God, but trust me. At this point things only go down hill no matter what state of health you're in. Oh. And by the way...

If you think attending a reunion is inexpensive, think again. I believe the all the festivities run at least $200, if not more. And that doesn't even include hotel, transportation, etc. Hmmm... which means do I want to actually lay out a minimum of $600 see all these people? Regardless, as I said in the beginning, what REALLY blows my mind above all else are the zillions of emails you get for this event.

The first week was pretty interesting. It kind of took you back in time and started you thinking all about your high school days. Which were pretty wonderful for me, I'm happy to say. Even week two of all these emails was kinda fun. But NOW?? Six months later?? Oh my God. Don't even ask. Plus... we still have six months yet to go! This constant contact so takes over your entire inbox. Plus, there's a whole Facebook page so basically... if ever you need to relive your high school experiences because the first time around sucked, then you're so in luck.

You have a perfectly fine chance to relive it all over again with the possibility of making it way better. I do have admit however, that I get a real kick out of viewing all the pictures of everyone. There are so many that look almost the same but then again, there are PLENty who look nothing like themselves at the age of 18. Me, for instance. Here you see me at 17. And then you see me at 67. Big difference, right?



When I think back to high school, I pretty much have only happy memories. Of course it didn't hurt that I met the first love of my life with whom I went steady for about a year and half. In high school terms that's like what? 9 years maybe? Man, were we in love. If you could see the love letters, cards, etc. you'd totally flip. Oh yeah... and by the way, I graduated high school a virgin, no less. I had no clue you could even do otherwise. Naturally I perfected all the other aspects of sexual young love, but still... apparently going to college as a virgin was the only choice of which I knew. In any case... 

Not only did I find my first love in high school, but I also found Linda, my very dearest girlfriend for the rest of my life. In fact, we decided to go to college together and bingo. We were roommates. We were at each other's Sweet Sixteen luncheons, weddings, family gatherings, religious celebrations, etc. etc. Until finally.... absolutely brokenhearted... I gave a eulogy at Linda's funeral several years ago. She was the most wonderful friend ever. Anyway...

Believe it or not... I have no clue yet whether or not I'll attend my reunion. One part of me says yes, the other part says who the hell cares? I'll tell you one thing however... if they keep up this daily delivery of hordes of emails, I just may have to shoot myself way before next April in which case problem solved. 

In the meantime, if you were not able to attend my high school I feel major sorry for you. It was a fantastic school in a fantastic city, with fantastic students. Life was happy and easy 50 years ago and the biggest problem was making sure you could find a parking place given so many of us had our own cars. Well, that and being sure you aced your pop quizzes. Which reminds me... my favorite classes in high school were Spanish 2, 3 and 4. Trust me... by the time I graduated I was this far from being totally bi-lingual.

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