This past weekend Laura and I attended the 30th reunion of my high school graduating class. It was the first time that I had seen many of these folks since we had graduated. It was great re-connecting with these folks.
About 100 people attended the event – that number including both alumni and spouses. You could pick out the non-alumni spouses very easily. They were usually the ones sitting in a corner off to a side, while the rest of us laughed and caught up.
Probably my oldest friends there were Zeno Armstrong, who I met in 1st grade (42 years ago!) and Charlie Crowder, who lived next door to me when we first moved to Gray Court for 2nd grade. Carla Stone Powell is also in the group of long timers, having met her in 2nd grade.
I had met with several of my classmates at the first of the summer to begin planning for the reunion. A group of six of us got together to give input and to help organize addresses and contact lists. Leni Neal Patterson and Teresa Gilbert Yarborough did the majority of the leg work, getting the venue, caterer, and DJ for the event.
Many of us in attendance had already caught up with each other via Facebook. My classmates kept commenting on my kayaking and photography. I became known as the “kayak guy”. I guess I’ve been a bit single-minded on Facebook lately.
As always in a situation like this, some will look just like they did in high school, and some (like me) will look very different. One of my classmates came up to me and ask, “Why did you change your name?” In high school all the teachers and my classmates called me “Thomas”, but now I go by “Tom”. That was just enough (with my change in appearance) to throw him off.
Regardless, we’re talking about having another gathering in five years, and are even talking about throwing a party summer after next when most of us hit 50. Now that will be a scary celebration, but it will still be fun.