Class reunions – some folks like them, but a lot of people don’t. Personally, I really enjoy them and look forward to seeing old friends and classmates, reliving old adventures, retelling stories and remembering past flames. My graduating class was small in comparison, only 42 (if I remember correctly), and in the last 45 years, we have lost several beloved members of our class. When a classmate dies, we tend to examine our own mortality. When we’re young (and dumb), we think we’re indestructible and will live forever. We take a lot of stupid risks, like speeding (of course, age doesn’t always make you wise to dumb choices). But after you graduate, from high school and/or college, it doesn’t take too long in the “real” world of getting up and going to work every day, paying your mortgage and raising your children that we realize we aren’t indestructible. To the contrary - we discover our weaknesses, most easily identified when you are dealing with a 2-year-old in the grocery store. As we age, our own bodies confirm that we are weak like when we become fearful of that dreaded call from the doctor with our test results. And then there’s when you realize you can’t hoist yourself up on the kitchen counter to reach those items in the top of the cabinet, or when you decide to jump over a shallow stream and realize your knees no longer have that cushion when you land (like a ton of bricks). When did that happen??
We are rather fragile beings. Don’t wait too long before you decide to start to take better care of your body and foster your relationships, whether with family or friends. Find something to be passionate about that doesn’t benefit you directly, like animal rescue or visiting a lonely person in a nursing home. Life is short. You don’t know what tomorrow holds. Forty-five years have gone by in a flash. I hope to make it to my class reunion this year and reconnect with some old and dear friends. Do you have a class reunion coming up? Go, reconnect and enjoy!
;)
