It's Raining Reunions (1)

It seems that reunions are falling out of the sky. My 40th college reunion is next May. I haven't been to a college reunion, except my fifth, and I did have a good time. But on the whole I have mixed feelings about college and I haven't thought of going to subsequent reunions. I do keep up with a handful of friends -- including K. and my roommate, Jane, who lives down the street. They are among my closest friends I could ever have and feel blessed they are in my life forty-three years after we first met.

For the last few years a woman I was friendly with in college, Mona, has been in touch with me about donations to the annual fund. Despite my feelings about the college, I have made small donations and we have had a nice email correspondence. Last month, to my complete surprise she asked if I wanted to be on our 40th reunion committee. My response was that I couldn't go to reunion as I hadn't kept up with my "group" of friends and couldn't imagine going to reunion without them. For clarification, I went to a women's college and many people lived in "groups," moving each year to a different dorm with the same group of women. When I actually write this now -- forty plus years later -- it seems ludicrous. We keep friends, we make new friends, we change and we grow.

But I was stuck in late adolescence with this issue of my "group." Mona's response was wonderful and kind. Her suggestion was that by working on reunion I would make new friends. What a simple, smart and obvious suggestion. I realized by moving ahead into the future I could transcend the past. How wonderfully liberating.
I'm on the committee and next May I expect to be here, in one of loveliest of all New England towns, moving into the future.

The leaves will be green, not red, but it will be beautiful.