50th

I graduated from high school in 1964. That was 50 years ago.

I know! I know! It seems more like twenty years, tops, but it was, indeed, fifty years ago.

We've had two reunions since 1964: a 25th, which I attended, and a 40th, which I did not attend.

In April of this year, I said I would attend the 50th.

Then I began to get cold feet. My cold feet were due, mainly, to vanity: I figured I was the only one in my class who had aged and looked to be nearing 70.

Early in the week of the reunion, I told Ken I definitely did NOT want to attend. He tried to urge me to go; I said no, I was fine with not going.

By Friday I was having second thoughts and told Ken I would like to go after all.

The first photo shows all of us who attended. Before you express shock at the low turn-out, you should know there were ten (yes, 10) in my graduating class. One was killed in a car accident four years after graduation. Two or three of the graduates didn't attend the reunion. Three who didn't actually graduate but who attended most years of high school did attend.

So there were ten of us at the reunion, and our spouses.

The top photo is of all of us in attendance; the second is a photo of me with my good friend, John. I hadn't seen John since the 25th reunion.

The black and white photo shows us as kindergartners, I think, or maybe first-graders. Six of the ten who attended the reunion are in this photo; I can't identify everyone, so maybe there are more than six of us shown here.

My best friend Elaine. in the middle of this photo above, was my dearest friend from kindergarten to senior year. We phoned each other each night during elementary school to choose our outfits for the next day. We phoned each other every night during high school to try to solve overwhelming algebra, geometry, and calculus problems.We've kept in touch all these years, and Elaine still phones me when she comes to Maine.

I left our little reunion feeling really glad that I had attended after all. For one thing, it was great seeing everyone and catching up on their lives. Fifty years melted away just like that as we reminisced about our school years and our teachers. (For another, joy filled my heart when I noticed they have aged, too!)