Why I Went to This High School Reunion

The first couple of reunions didn’t sound big – but this one sure did – 50 years. Half century flew by since that night in June 1964 when we graduated from Towson Senior High school, the first wave of Baby Boomers to earn our high school diploma.

But what drew me to return and celebrate was not the milestone, so much as the friendships I have made and enjoyed – not everyone came; but for those who did, they made it quite a weekend for me, and for Doug.

These friendships taught me more about life than most of the classes I attended. (Mr. Carter, Miss Schaeffer, and Mrs. Meginnis were “friends” for another time.) We taught each other to wear make-up, do-up our hair, choose clothes, jewelry, and boy friends; together we figured out how we might get around our parents; we learned to smoke and  . . . other stuff.

In the decades that followed, we stayed in touch – usually sporadically, occasionally as roommates. We have tolerated each other’s quirks, and overlooked our failures cheered our successes, and been genuinely interested in each other’s paths.

Over fifty years, my friends became women who kept right on teaching – but on different subjects – like marriage, divorce; raising kids, and sometimes rearing them alone. They taught me what pursuing an education and a profession looks like; what recovery from alcohol abuse looks like – the cost of battling breast cancer; what caring for a dying spouse takes, and what living though widowhood demands. And they have taught me strategies for being the parents of adult children, even as we learned to take care of the parents we tried outsmarting.

We have laughed more than cried – as we commiserated over our aches and pains, and rejoiced in each other’s happinesses. This weekend was no exception!

The 50^th Reunion was a super time – the people who planned it thought of many sweet touches, and because they did, we had a great excuse to come together, four of us this time, and do a little remembering, and a lot of laughing.

·      You can always tell a real friend: when you’ve made a fool of yourself [s]he doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job. ~ Laurence J. Peter

·      A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked. ~Author Unknown

·      A good friend is a connection to life — a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~ Lois Wyse