REUNION

Imperfect Shadows 3.2026

THE MIDDLE  
by Ogden Nash

When I remember bygone days
I think how evening follows morn;
So many I loved were not yet dead,
So many I love were not yet born.

high school building single story

I received an E-Mail today about our High School class reunion. It will be number 57. Astounding to think about. I will unfortunately not be able to attend. But it still makes me nostalgic.

High School was 1966 – 1969. Turbulent times in the country. Our nation was still at war. But also amazing times in culture and music. Woodstock in August 1969 (after graduation). I was also not able to attend that either. A pivotal time for women to further their education and go into careers that had been unavailable in years past. Our rights were expanding.

Our High School was a small all girls Catholic School. Maybe there were 75 girls in my class. So everyone knew everyone. There were still clicks but there were also more fluid groups as well. I was very close to 5 of the girls. I have written about them in The I.A.I. and the Curse of Cancer.

Senior year was filled with excitement for the “next step” whatever it was. It was being able to go to the Bob’s Big Boy for lunch (which was very close to campus). Of course we rolled up our skirts to a much higher length. Those burgers, fries and milk shakes tasted like freedom just around the corner. The dances were more joyful. Local bands played and some went on to become semi-famous. Sporting events (if they would qualify as that) were funnier. Afterall our school mascot was a Penguin. Get it Penguin – nuns…I was always surprised that that was allowed whenever the school was set up.

Graduation was emotional. Good intentions of staying in touch were written in the yearbook. Many hugs. Many tears. Then the Class of 1969 became history.

The school was closed. The campus was sold and became a military academy. We all scattered across the country and began the next step.

I was able to attend a few reunions. I found them fascinating. The groups held together with contact. But the taboo of interaction between groups got outgrown. They were fun.

It was fascinating to see the paths each person had taken. But then our class in High School was the beginning. Life took us each on a journey too full to share everything with everyone. But the class keep returning to reconnect. Even if it was only for a short time, it seems that that kept out shared history alive.

After about the 20^th reunion, there was a section of the reunion was dedicated to those classmates that died. As you would guess, the number of those unfortunately increase each time.

That period of my life does seem both frozen in time and broken then spread over many years. So when I think of it today, I do think of my good friends – marriages, children, and all the other life milestones that happen. Then their children’s marriages and then grandchildren. And my good friends that have died.

That is why I quoted the Ogden Nash poem. I have always felt that it summed up a lot of my perspective of life. When I stop and ponder life, when I look back and look at today, it is all “both and”. The happiness and sadness of the past set up against the happiness and sadness of the present.

The remembrance. The thread of their lives going forward. The memories recalled. The memories passed on. The yearbooks sitting in a shelf or in a box that holds some of the laughter and the tears of those High School years.

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