A Class Reunion

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered".  Nelson Mandela

40 years ago at the tender age of 17, I embarked on my new life ‘away from home’ after graduating from our high school with the love of my life, my then boyfriend of 2 years; my now husband of 37 years. We had our pictures taken with cap and gown and finished off the evening with a grad party at his parent’s house with wine, lobster and cheese. My first introduction to wine…not good….very sick…next day went horseback riding and that too was not good…very sick…but a fun day as I was not alone in the ‘sick’ category.

We cruised to our home town marina on our boat, intending to make a weekend of it. It is slowly becoming the ‘end of summer’ and we are capturing every minute. We snicker at some of the memories of high school and are going ‘blindly’ to this reunion…this being our first one. Having lived ‘away’ in the earlier years we missed out on the reunions of bygone days. That’s ok…we are glad that at the 40year mark we are attending for the first time. We’re in a good place (mentally) and will attend with the right attitude. I fondly reminisce with ‘A’ about the last year in high school. There were struggles with friendships, painful competitions, and the whole business of ‘growing up’…moving from childhood, through adolescence towards adulthood….ohmeohmy!

I was Carnival Queen that year. My class won the mascot for the winter carnival and it was a fun time. The contestants were ‘judged’ thereby avoiding that horrible ‘popularity vote’ thing. I was not popular. I had a small circle of friends…I was much better at the one-on-one thing (being an introvert who hadn’t yet matured enough to adapt to the extrovert side when the circumstance called for it). I still have those friends today and when we are together – it’s like wearing a comfortable pair of old shoes…you just know it will feel good. I was a cheerleader. Prerequisites for this group was to have a lot of energy; the ability to shout real loud and remember the cheers. Well…I aced that one. I loved wearing our school colours; maroon and gold. Our pompoms were handmade and would sometimes come apart leaving the maroon and gold streamers lying about in wispy shreds. Two of my best friends were cheerleaders with me and it was very cool to be able to attend all the games…on the bus…with the football players. Innocent times for sure.

We walked to the reunion along Breakwater St. and the sun was just setting over the water. We were so tempted to just sit and watch it go down, but we were already late for the meet and greet. ‘A’ was wearing his running shoes…me…I wasn’t so smart and was click clacking along… one step behind in a pair of strappy sandals. The hall was the same one that hosted all the dances on Friday night when we were in high school, so it was a ‘walk down memory lane’ entering. It didn’t look the same. Renovations had removed all vestiges of the years we spent there; the stage was just a little platform and a kitchen had replaced ‘backstage’ where performers would wait for their cues. The old wood paneling was replaced with two-toned paint and the windows had bright covers on them. Wall sconces surrounded the room…it was SO bright! The hall was decorated in red and yellow streamers and there was a ‘sign-in’ table where we paid the cover fee and autographed our pictures in the 1971 yearbook. The ladies at the table I remembered…actually they hadn’t changed that much. Whew…what a relief! I had a little anxiety walking up the road and voiced this by admitting my fear of not recognizing anyone or worse still…not remembering their names! It was like they had read my mind…we were all given nametags! I hadn’t written my maiden name in years and it felt vaguely familiar in a strange kind of way. There were two graduating classes attending this event and that was fortunate for me as some people in my class had failed (one lady actually remembered that 19 had ‘flunked’ as she so aptly put it) – so it was nice to see them and I really didn’t remember that they had not graduated with me. Thankfully 40 years had removed that piece of insignificant trivia from my memory banks.

I grabbed my teeny (plastic) glass of red wine and proceeded to move from table to table. ‘A’ did the same so we could cover the distance quicker. There was a LOT of personalities in that room! Some of my classmates had not changed a speck….seriously…how did they DO that?! Others I would have walked right by…they had changed so much. ‘A’ remarked later that some people looked at him and had NO CLUE who he was…that was pretty funny. The same ‘class clowns’ were performing…and that brought a smile… it was so nice to see people who really didn’t change. There were the same ‘clicques’ banding together oblivious of others in the room…some things never change. I finished working the room and found an old friend and we sat and giggled and ‘observed’ from our table at the side. A trivia game was in play and it really started to feel like school… a classmate who is a retired teacher was yelling out the questions….OMGod…I can’t remember last week…let alone who the president of the student union was back in 1971. Enough already….I really do hate that game ‘trivial pursuit’…my head just doesn’t store all that useless information.

‘A’ and I found a spot by the door, and at an opportune moment slid out into the cool night air. The temperature in the hall had probably reached 30 degrees by the time we left and I was already longing to feel the gentle rocking of the boat under my feet. We met up with some boating friends and invited them to our cabin for a nightcap and some candlelight.

There is one thing ‘A’ and I can both agree on…once is enough. Reunions are strange traditions…and I really don’t ‘get’ them. Must be the introvert in me…I would much prefer to meet these people…one-on-one. ‘Salute’ to the class of ’71…it was nice meeting up with you again….see ya around!