**60 Years Later** The Epilogue

Last month I wrote of the upcoming 60^th class reunion for the McNicholas high School Class of ’64.  The date has come and gone; it is in the history books.  Nothing left to do now but remember and hope.  Remember the friends we reacquired after all these years and hope we are all still here for the 65^th class reunion, yet to be organized or even decided if such an event will occur.  I truly hope it will and hopefully I will be here to attend.

To me it was quite interesting to see the variations in the perceived ages of the attendees.  As we are all pretty much of the same age, it seemed to me that some appeared quite young and vibrant looking nowhere near their chronological age and others, quite frankly, appeared to be circling the drain.  I will not identify any from either category and I will leave it to the determination of others to which category I belong.

 On a sad note, remembrances were had of those we have lost to death since we left high school.  Although the number still with us far exceeds those who are not, the list continues to get longer with each passing year.  I think it might be sad when I am looking at the list in years to come and realize that I am the last one left, or at least that is my plan.

I discovered a curious phenomenon as I milled about engaging in conversation with many.  For it seemed as I approached, I really did not know with whom I was about to engage and but for their name tags I would have never guessed their identity.  But once engaged in conversation I noticed the person I used to know slowly emerge and then it was as if the years slipped away, and we were the same as we were back then. 

I also noticed that with some I could certainly tell that they truly had no idea who I was.  I do not resent them for that because there were some, I also had no idea who they were.  That did not stop us from engaging in conversation with one another as we asked “how are you? how have you been? what have you been doing these past 60years?  In my suspicious mind, I thought that last question might be a trap and was only being asked because they already knew the answer but were trying to ascertain my truthfulness.    I am sure that was not so, but. . .  Fortunately, when conversation started to wane, we could always rely on talking about our health, compare our cholesterol and blood pressure medications, and the pros and cons of using a CPAP machine. 

That is about all there is to say about this.  If you are interested in browsing a photo gallery of the event, it can be found here.  If you are a member of the Class of 64 but were unable to attend the reunion, I challenge you to view he photos and see how many people you recognize but be honest now.  I honestly regret that it is over.  I hope to keep my promises of “keeping in touch”.  For those who did not attend because of some left over of anxieties from high school days I can assure you there was not one wet willy or wedgie, at least not that I observed.

That concludes my account of the event.  If you were there and would like to share a memory of the weekend, feel free to use the comment section below.  Please consider sharing this article and subscribing.  Afterall, how can I ever get famous if my work is not shared.  I could be running out of time.  Until next Friday, have a great week