For Maeve and Wyatt who think I'm pretty old!

I can remember sitting in the auditorium at Fairport High an incredibly long time ago, being told we needed to make plans for a 5 year reunion! Five years??? We'll be done with college by then! I'll be 22 or something! Who cares? Mr. Witty wasn't going to let us leave until somebody raised their hand and volunteered to plan and execute the all important 5 year reunion. Somehow, my level of discomfort sitting there in silence, must have been greater than all the other members of my class..... the social ones who usually orgainzed the pep rallies, etc. Where were the cheerleaders, and the team captains? Why was the first hand to go up, after what seemed like at least 2 hours, mine? The very same hand that finally went up after a similar long silence when the Civil Air Patrol guy asked us to sign up after another event in that same auditorium. ( I actually joined the Civil Air Patrol, and un-joined after a few weeks of marching and watching films about the joys of military service )

The five years went by. The Vietnam war was on ...... I was a pretty hard core activist by then. A lot of things seemed a lot more important than a 5 year high school reunion! I felt pretty guilty, but I never did organize that first reunion. As far as I know, nobody else stepped into the breech either. The 10 year reunion happened --- I didn't go ---- I figured somebody would probably remember that I had messed up the first one. Sort of the same misfit, nerdy, socially inept feeling that had characterized most of my school years. Why did I raise my hand that day? Mary Ellen and I did go to the 20th ( I think it was the 20th ) We enjoyed each other's company, but our few favorite folks from High School weren't there.

Now I'm 62 years old --- grey bearded ---- my baby brother has died --- I'm a cancer survivor. I think I actually turned out pretty cool. I've owned my own business for 36 years, made lots of great stuff, and made a lot of true friends. I'm a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a husband, a son, and a friend many times over!

Why does that silly post card from Angie and Sue bring up all those old feelings of sitting there in that auditorium trying so hard to keep my hand from going up?

Maybe I'll go and see how many Barack Obama pins I can sell! Or just walk around with a picture of Maya pinned to my vest? Or tell everybody to get their PSA checked, and to go ahead with that long put off colonoscopy! Mine came back negative yesterday by the way! Or just maybe, if we can all put aside those old high school feelings, some of us would discover that we turned out to be pretty decent folks who might like each other!