Worth the Wait: My Fiftieth High School Reunion

At the end of the evening, pictures, memories and decorations

 

After a year and a half of planning and anticipation, my fiftieth high school reunion is now memories, and they are very sweet memories and extraordinary moments to cherish. I shared the evening with approximately 100 high school classmates. They included a friend from nursery school, another friend that was in my kindergarten class and more friends from elementary school and Brownies then I can count. This was in addition to "new" friends that I met in high school, over fifty years ago. To spend an evening with people who represent at least a zillion wonderful moments in my life is a gift few get, and I am profoundly grateful.

 

 

 

I was looking forward to seeing friends, but I hadn't thought about how much fun the evening would be. Besides the dancing and a delicious dinner, I enjoyed the scavenger hunt the committee had planned. I connected with many more people in the room than I would have otherwise.

 

This is what 68 looks like. 

 

There was a shadow cast on our celebration by the tragedy in Pittsburgh at Tree of Life Synagogue, but our amazing class president, Harvey Kelly, spoke movingly about the events earlier in the day. We shared a moment of silence in memory of those who were killed. The other sobering time in the evening was the reading of the Honor Roll of our classmates who have died in the last fifty years. They are remembered, loved and missed.  

 

After the anticipation, it's a let down to know that our celebration is over. But one thing I've learned in the last fifty years is that life take us places we never dreamed we would go. I've also learned that I am very fortunate to have shared the places in my life with this group of people. 

 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care. 

   

Fifty-Fifty

Mary Woolley Hall, Mount Holyoke College

 

Fifty years ago my world changed. In June I graduated from high school on September 15, 1968 I started college. On a bright Sunday morning I sat in our over-packed blue Chevrolet and my parents and I made the hour long trip to South Hadley, Massachusetts. I had my manual typewriter and more clothes than I would wear that year. I had sheets, brand new towels -- some of which I still have -- stationery and a bedspread. Though I was only an hour from home, I had entered a new world and found a new home. 

 

The college I entered that day fifty years ago was very different than it is today, or most colleges are today. I had no computer or cell phone and I was about to spend time in the college bookstore buying my text books. Meals were served in each dorm and on Wednesday and Sunday, we took part in "gracious living," where dresses and heels were strongly encouraged. 

 

With what I know now I doubt if would have gone to a women's college in a small town in Massachusetts. But that was then. I emerged four years later with friendships that have lasted through the last fifty years, a liberal arts education and a strong sense of self.  I'm grateful for the education, the people I met and the opportunities I've had. Thanks, Mount Holyoke, for a second home through the last fifty years. 

 

The second fifty in the title is my fiftieth high school reunion coming up next month. We've been planning this for over a year. I'm so looking forward to seeing the friends I spent the first part of my life with. It's a full schedule -- lunch, evening dinner on Saturday and brunch on Sunday -- but I know, too, that the weekend will fly by, with only memories and photographs to hold on to. I keep wondering how did fifty years go by so quickly?  

 

Does anyone else have reunions coming up soon?

 

Last Tuesday night I didn't need a jacket and today I wore a sweater, long sleeves and socks. It's autumn not just on the calendar, but in New York City.

 

As ever, thanks for visiting and take good care.