Fun Was Had By All

Well, the much anticipated 45th Reunion of the Pasadena High School Class of 1965 has come and gone. The consensous seems to be that it was the best ever. I cannot vouch for that since the only other one I attended was the 25th. What I do know is that it was the best one I have attended and it far exceeded my expectations even though I am not really sure what I expected.

For starters, the venue was absolutely perfect. I did not work with the arrangements but I did benefit from the work of those who did. The Hospitality room was great though it could have been larger; the main event room was more than adaquate; and, by the time the folks in charge of decorations were finished I thought we could just push back the tables and have a "sock-hop." The food was really good and in plenty of supply. If someone left hungry it certainly was because of the lack of good food.

But as much as I liked the venue, the decorations and the food, those where not the things that caused me to come away from the experience wishing it would last a little longer. It was something that for lack of a better word was "spiritual." After 45 years of living our separate lives this group of classmates from 1965 came together and it was almost as if we had never been apart.

I have spent the better part of my life observing people. I have often said that I as I sat in the Mall I saw love born and watched love die. On this night I had a grand time watching and participating in what appeared to me to be a miracle as my high school classmates interacted with one another. It was a sight to behold.

What was it that welled up within us and brought tears as we looked into the faces of classmates no longer among us? For me it was the sense that in their passing something of myself had been lost. What caused a sense of pride in us as Wilson had our classmates who had served in our Armerd Forces introduce themselves? When I heard those introductions I thought about how the Vietnam war had affected our class and I wondered about the lives not lived by classmates who died in Vietnam. But none of this was what made this gathering significant to me.

As I spoke with classmates and listened to conversation of others I became very much aware of the variety of paths we had traveled since we graduated from high school in May of 1965. The life experiences were as varied as the people present. Yet the relationships born in those early days have not been diminished by the separation caused by time and space. It seems we just picked up where we had left off. It was, as I said above, almost as if we had never been apart.

I still cannot define it but somehow I am drawn to these people. People I really do not know that well (maybe that's part of it) and who we see infrequently if at all between reunions just seem to be a major part of who I am.

Two books have been major contributors to my life. One, the Bible and the other The Tapestry: The Life and Times of Francis Schaefer by Edith Schaefer. The former is my guide for spiritual development and living life. The latter brought home to me the concept that our lives are the product of all the people who have touched our lives. Each a weaving in the tapestry of our life. For reasons I don't fully understand the Pasadena High School's Class of 1965 is apparently a weaving so vital that it is attached to my core person and I am the better because of it.

I am already pumped for the 50th . . . besides, most of us will still be under 70 even if it is a matter of a few months.