Thanks

Yesterday went about as well as it could have.  Mass was good other than we messed up one hymn because we forgot to put the capos on.  Holy hour was very nice.  But I want to tell you about the class reunion Part I that was held last night.

We were going to play a game where our classmates tried to remember all of the stores in the Fairview Shopping Center.  It was really a fairly unique place, the first shopping center in all of Cuyahoga County when it opened in 1947.  There was a bowling alley, a theater, and dozens of mom and pop shops.  The theater opened in 1948 and my sister remembers that event.  It was a big deal for a small town.

Thing is, Panini's doesn't have a sound system and all of the TVs were going with the Indians game on it.  That's kind of nostalgic.  One of the only times the Indians went anywhere was in the 1950s when we were in elementary school.  The place was so loud and congested!!  No one could hear.  Pat, the reunion chair, climbed on a chair and tried to be heard over the crowd.  Mike, this character of a guy who is just downright funny, stood next to her.

She'd say something and he'd yell a short synopsis of what she just said.  He went along with the script pretty well until she got to the part about bringing cash money to the Saturday night event for the raffle and for drinks (cash bar).  Then he starting doing what he does best.  He said, "Don't buy any tickets for the condo weekend that Ruth donated.  The place is full of termites.  Don't do it!"

Someone standing near me said that the whole thing sounded like something on Saturday Night Live and reminded them of one of the actors on that show that used to yell things all the time.

I saw people I haven't seen in probably 40 years at least if not 50.  Yesterday I was going to look at the yearbook for a while, but it probably wouldn't have helped all that much.  Surprisingly, I recognized most of the people with a few notable exceptions.  Several times we incorrectly identified a classmate only to find out that it was a classmate's spouse.  Oh well.  Made for a good laugh and broke the ice.

A few people looked so much like they did in high school that it was amazing.  A couple of others didn't look like they did in high school whatsoever. 

At any rate, at this reunion people wanted to talk about the old days.  They wanted to reminisce about everything and relished the stored-away stories that only get better with time.  There were those amazed faces when someone looks at a classmate and all of the sudden sees them as they were 50 years ago.  And there were hugs all around.

Despite the heat and humidity and the loudness, we found our common ground.

One of my classmates told us that when children start kindergarten at age four, they never catch up to the rest of the class in their math skills.  Hmmmm.  Sounds really familiar!!  And two of us who were four when school started thought that sounded about right. 

Now you knew that I'd have to bring in faith somewhere, didn't you?  One of my classmates talked about losing her husband three years ago.  She said that she is doing much better now and that both her music (she sings in a choir and has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center) and her church helped to pull her through.  She emphasized -- especially her church. 

We talked about how a group of girls could work with each other, go to camp with each other, and spend a lot of time with each other over the course of more than a year and never once have an argument.  And for the first time in many, many years, three of the six cheerleaders were together.

Two of my classmates thanked me for encouraging them to come to the reunion and starting early at bugging them.  So tonight, we do the reunion Part II.

Have a wonderful Saturday and enjoy the cooler weather.