“Everybody here is so old.”
That was our initial impression, and then several came up to us asking who we were.
Over in the corner came a barely audible whisper from two obviously quite-mature women: “I don’t recognize that old man there with the cowboy boots and cowboy shirt on?”
And, response from a suspendered, potbellied, bald headed, heavy spectacled man we couldn’t identify: “Oh, that’s Frank Buchman. He’s really gotten old, a lot heavier, too.”
Come to find out, they were all our age, and we knew everyone. At least we used to. Certainly, we all had at least one thing in common: “The Class of ’69.”
We’re still are, but it’s 45 years later, and this was our every five year gathering since that first biggest day of the rest of our lives: high school graduation.
As the evening progressed, those “strangers” again became classmates with reflections of school day happenings as much as nearly six decades earlier. Several of us had gone through 13 grades together, and could even reflect that first year’s classroom shenanigans.
Several had lived on the other side of town, and then there were the country kids whose one room schools closed, along with those who’d transferred when their high schools’ doors shut. We became one.
Changes in outward appearance were the initial shock of many. Yet, there were the few, at least from a distance, who looked almost exactly like they did graduation night.
After we all became reacquainted, most were actually just about the same as we remember them in the truly good old days.
True tales of lifetimes’ history were revealed in minutes with successes, failures, highlights, dimmest times, all completely different, yet strangely quite similar.
Some had been around the world, and others never ventured from roots. Occupations and families as varied, with several doing exactly as would have been predicted, and several into lifestyles one would never have imagined.
Attendance shy from the previous get together, party’s saddest point was remembering the 15 class members who have gone to the great beyond.
Reminds us of Second Maccabees 7:16: “You have the power to do whatever you want, even though you are still mortal.” Yet, Daniel 2:21: “He changes the times and the seasons.” However, Hebrews 1:12: “You’ll still stay the same year after year.”
+++ALLELUIA+++