 |
||
|
If you speak with enough people, I think you will find there are a myriad of reasons why some adults love/hate reunions. Over the past 20 years, ever since Linda Christopher Chaney called me out of the blue and asked me to participate on the 1984 Reunion Committee, I have heard dozens of comments in response to reunions. Some get so excited to rekindle whatever it was they had or thought they had in those years of youth they can hardly contain themselves. I remember Skip Benson saying “watch this!” at one of our committee meetings and jumping down on the floor demonstrating he was still able to do a handstand like he could do when he was a stud fullback for the Golden Bears. I was proud of Skip. I was having a hard time just standing on my feet, much less on my hands. Some looked just like they did the day they flipped the gold and white tassel. Benny Patterson looked in 1984 like a kid right out of college. Benson Armistead could have played Doogie Houser. Linda Fry Hartley might have passed for a debutante. Others had changed dramatically. Clint Brown had the look of a college prof, complete with beard, argyle socks and sweater. Jeannie Sublett had transformed from Rosemary Clooney to Mitzi Gaynor. Danny Lasater stood right beside me and said hello. I thought he was Anwar Sadat. I loved it all. Everyone looked beautiful and tanned and wealthy. I tried to reclaim my youth with a strict weight loss program, tanning booth and a leased luxury car. Didn’t work. Some woman says to me “didn’t you graduate three or four years ahead of us?” We tried diligently to find our “lost classmates.” Following leads out of many places we called all over America. Once I was trying to “find” Susan Murray and I think I spoke with her Mom. She told me where Susan was and asked if I knew Darlene Wilson was working at Eckerd’s in Cedar Hill? Called the store, left a message and ended up locating Darlene and her twin Charlene in Florida and both came to the Reunion. Now, that’s fun. Some you “find” only to discover they wished you hadn’t and let you know so. “I hated high school and I sure don’t want to see anyone from that time in my life. Take me off your list.” I guess you have to expect some of that. High school was not a pleasant time in all lives, even for some living in South Oak Cliff in the Camelot years of 1960-65. I’m sorry for them. I hope their lives turned out well and the pain of whatever caused their anger or sadness goes away someday. I think it’s important a person hangs on to some of the past. It is an absolutely wonderful gift to have a family that connects you to your past. But there can be more than family. For some of us, most I venture to say, SOC brings back pleasant memories. The friends. The bustle in the hallway. Teachers whose faces and words chipped into the granite of our minds. First love. First time behind the wheel of a car. A Reunion brings back those visions with the faces and smiles of those who shared them with us. I need it once in a while. You? Steve Foster
|
