Reunions

"Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other Gold!"  These lyrics from a familiar Girl Scout song ring in my inner ear these days as I think about days gone by.

Last month, I wore several hats all at one time,  Can you relate?  They were the hats of:  Devoted Wife, Loving Mother,  Joyful Grandmother, First Daughter, Wise Sister, Artist, and Fun Friend.  I wore these hats simultaneously  as I attended my high school reunion of 40+ years.  In the past, this type of event would really unnerve me.  But for some reason, this time I was very comfortable in my skin.  Is this what happens once one crosses the bridge to the new decade of the 60's?  A certain aire of acceptance and confidence seems to take over.

I was pleasantly surprised by the numbers of  former classmates that attended this very casual event.  One of our classmates took it upon himself to organize this reunion via the internet using email.  We met in the pavilion at our community annual fair.  After signing the guest book and donning name tags, we were encouraged to mingle and visit with our peers who had gathered.  It was crazy to greet former classmates who knew me when.  We talked, hugged, laughed and shared a toast to the fact that we survived!!  It was somewhat shocking to see the list of our fallen classmates grow over the course of the evening,  Bless these friends who have moved on - -

I especially enjoyed watching my parents and sibs greeting and hugging and visiting with these 'dear ones' who at one time were a very special part of our lives.  Yes, my 80+ year old parents were there to greet the "kids" who used to hang around our house looking to be a part of the action of a big family.  Did I mention that I have 4 sisters and 3 brothers??  Life was never boring and there were always chores to be done that went a little faster when the friends came to call and helped speed up the process.  Those were the days - - - -