A Reunion With the Joy of It All

Vermont slate sidewalk at 7 Highland Drive. My father, Grandmother,
 and I drove to  Vermont to get this slate to build the sidewalk.

By the time July arrived, I really was not interested in attending my 50th high school reunion.

Every year around my birthday,  I claim a promise for the year. For 2011-12, I promised myself to participate in connections and be inspired.

Each encounter had been just that during the year.

So, this reunion, coming at the end of the year of being inspired, was on the agenda, whether I was really interested or not.

While mingling at the picnic - the first event -, I was able to put some memories into perspective, as initial recollection of high school was that it was a lonely time. If I was lonely then, I sure wasn't now.

On the WCS Class of 1962 facebook page, several of us had become good friends. I hardly knew most of them in high school -even if we did spend a lot of time together in one way or the other. Yet, when we met at the picnic, I felt we had been friends forever and was feeling the blessing of meeting once again.

At the picnic, I listened to tales and memories, but didn't ask many questions as I had planned on doing. I listened to many stories, however brief because I was in somewhat of a daze which did not encourage the speaker. I have reflected on what I heard. Predominantly, many of us have recently retired or would like to retire. I felt this desire for us to feel that we can move into a new phase of life, with the memories of our experiences in high school and in our families and careers. Those who come after us - the newer  generation - are already standing on your shoulders.

One of the most popular and gracious of classmates  was recalling 6th grade. She said when she thought about our 6th grade trip, she thought about me. While she was relating a really fun-time tale, I was remembering that teacher just plain did not like me!!

I drew a blank with so many encounters.

 When one handsome stranger standing before me,  told me he remembered how entertaining I was and that he remembered laughing a lot when I was around, I was wanting to ask him for an example, but instead my brain was scanning that time in history trying to place him, recognize him, remember something, anything related to what he was saying.

A kiss on the lips from another handsome, yet recognizable stranger,  convinced me each  encounter should have been such - but alas, bacchanalia it wasn't. Enough said on that subject,which, in high school, was never far from the forefront of our consciousness, was  it?.

I really enjoyed watching another bearded elderly gentleman, who I called "crabby",  get happier each time I saw him and called him that. Probably, he finally smiled because he had finally recognized me.

A lovely couple, both at this reunion and the last one, swore on their grandmothers' graves that I introduced them and at the time I was with one of the guys I remember as being really hot.  I have absolutely no recollection, and will be convinced to the day I die and beyond that they have me confused with someone else - and I am quite certain, that even though I dated many, that hot guy was not among the many.I would have remembered the attraction alone. Oh, well. Enjoy the credits, I say.

At he dinner at Harts Hill Inn, I was drawn to staying on the dance floor at all costs. There was such happy energy there.

Tall-white-haired-and-handsome-as-ever, after years of encountering the vast wilderness, has had so much time to meet his inner self and from there encounter the Spirit of the land for the living of his life. His presence alone was an awesome encounter. I think that is why I kept pulling him out onto the dance floor - he with his broken foot and me with my broken ankle!

Or maybe the lure was the happiest couple in the world . Seems to me there were many happy couples, but these two stood out in the crowd. They definitely have something special going for them. Keep on dancing, I say!!

Our classmates all are sensitive to Spirit- so many signs of this showed up here and there during the weekend. I also heard much depth conversation on social crises. A very distinguished and dignified classmate's  stories of his successes as an attorney is a fascinating example - especially the time he got a felon off the hook so the guy could work as a decoder for the US government.

This was my dearest friend's first reunion. She was beside herself with joyful anticipation of who she would see and what they would share. When she and the foreign exchange student  - so in love back when, reunited by falling into a dance, accompanied by the music of kabobs sizzling on the grill behind them, the world stopped for a short minute.

The DJ, tall and suave, was wired with ecstasy, providing the music of the era to enfold us in a community of memory, while his lovely wife, captured the whole thing in visual memories.

I so admire the team who organized this particular reunion. They came out of the woodwork to work together for this grand gathering of a very special group of people. It is as if we were destined to have a memorable occasion and they made it happen. One classmate on the team is a master at handiwork. She facilitated the very memorable reunion shirts and embroidered our beautiful name tags

An old and dear friend, told me that it was he who catalyzed the whole thing by convincing the classmate who did get the ball rolling, that it was needed.  His wife, has "grown up" to be such a beautiful woman.  I hadn't seen her since we lived on the same street, so young and so long ago.

While we are on the same street . I could not believe my eyes and would never have recognized the girl who lived across the street  if she hadn't made herself known to me.  The boy from down the street and I had the privilege of connection at a couple of reunions already. He and I - and one other classmate - go all the way back to the baptismal fount (almost) at First Presbyterian Church.

What is quite amazing is that so many of us can remember so much from so far back, and by talking to each other, finding out how many of the rest of us were in the same classes, although we don't necessarily recall each other in those classes, we remember the teachers which put us in the same classes at the same times. With each memory of this, our common history became richer and more real.

I was also very impressed with how handsomely my fellow classmates have aged and how beautiful are the women. On facebook, I have seen several reunions of about the same time period.  Our class is really the most impressive of all I have seen. We must all be really happy, have a playful relationship to life, and definitely seem to be enjoying the great adventure of this final Act on the great stage of life where we have all  grown to know and love so much.

Other events of the reunion - groups getting together before and after, golf match, breakfast, reuniting with teachers,  the remembrance of classmates who have passed on, and the Mariner's plus one canoe trip are but a few of the centers of activity accompanying this reunion.  The reunion not only includes that getting acquainted before the reunion, but also the connections which have formed since. The potential here alone is priceless.

So hard to feel the pain when surrounded by such joy. Is this not what it is all about after all? When we take photos to add to the album, do we not always take them of the happy times - the high times - the good times - the precious moments?  Yes, we do. So it is with reunions.  They bring us into the present time with the best of those years we spent in school.

Now that I have begun writing, I  am ready to  write for a long long time. But, this is a blog, and the account of our 50th reunion has run its course.

But, those of us who write are having the time of our lives right now. We are all loving to recreate images of the experience and the evocation of reflections on its significance.

What for you were those precious moments at a reunion you have attended  - those moments which changed your perspective, bringing the joy of the life you lived with these people in to the present moment?

Lou Finch, Judi White, Jim Samuel, then and now!

The Same Smile

Hope, Faith, Birth, Purity, Renewal, Promise, Passion, Becoming

Two contributing factors to the writing of this blog entry:

One - My first born and only daughter will have a birthday this week. Her own second born daughter is within eighteen days of the age that I gave birth to her mother.

The other - Reading the book, The Same Smile, a story written by a mother and daughter telling of their saga of reuniting after many years, following adoption.

Our journeys have many similarities, one of which is the endless presence of  hope for reconciliation.

In the book, mother and daughter shared pictures. My daughter has shared pictures, but mine were tucked away in the closet. Until yesterday, in a curious search, I believed most were lost in one of the hurricanes which ravaged through the house a few years back.

Most of them have been lost, but I found a treasure trove of bits and pieces of history, which I have chosen as a beginning,  to share with her as a birthday present.

If she chooses someday to come and visit me here in my home, there is still more to share. And, when my scanner works again, I'll scan more to send.

In reading The Same Smile, I became aware of the connective power of sharing pictures. I have  perused my daughter's "album of yore" over and over again searching for more glimmers of commonality. She carries much of her natural father's energy as well as mine.

So, having wondered what it is that I can share with her to assist that connective power within her, I am now hoping that these few photos will be the gift she needs for us to be able to become closer.

Both of us, and her natural father, too, carry the energy of being able to keep our distance - aloof, yet sensitively observant.

Having stuffed down my regrets at relinquishing all rights to my daughter when she was ten days old, they, as might have been expected, came out of their hiding place, when we did reunite.

Given the opportunity for unconditionally forgiving myself and everyone involved, I found a new strength for this process in getting to know my granddaughter.  For many reasons, I suspect - no, I know that I made the right decision way back then - given who I was and my circumstances at that age.

Now, today, creating the future as we go, is  is all there is for us to live. Sharing photos and stories which accompany the stories is like a Celtic circle dance  - this dance weaving a long held dream of reconciliation, into our lives today.

It will happen or it won't happen. I am hoping actively that it will happen for us.

How have you brought the past into today through photos and stories?  What has been the result? 

Hello!!!

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