25 Years ago .... The Reunion

This weekend was my 25-year, high school class reunion. I had a great time hanging out with longtime friends and reuniting with those whom I had lost touch. My graduating class was right around one hundred students, so everyone knew everyone and I liked that.

Our arch rivals, the Niles Vikings, also held their reunion at the same hotel, on same night, at the same time. They were about three times larger than us, and therefore had a much larger turnout. It was great having them there though, and it turned out that the rivalry wasn't as big as I had believed. We all floated between the two reunions and by the end of the night, we had a wonderful time together. I laughed so much my face hurt. My crowning achievement was stealing the Niles Viking Helmet and wearing it back to the Brandywine Bobcat reunion - I think I look pretty good in Viking wear. It was a grand and triumphant entry; I was king of the world for a few minutes.


As part of the reunion committee, I helped plan much of the evening's festivities. Fortunately, there were a lot of vintage "80's" photos rife with the fodder of many great jokes: big hair, spandex, stone-washed jeans, mullets, and ill-formed mustaches. It was enormous fun.


There were somber moments in the evening, though. The memorial for our deceased classmates was one. There were six in our class who had died; five men, one woman. I knew them all a little and presided over that part of the evening. I spent a lot of time looking at their photos this week and preparing slides with their pictures.


The son of one of the men who died came to one of the weekend activities with his mother. He was there looking for people to tell him their memories of his father. His father had died nine years earlier while he was still a young boy.


It was profoundly moving for me to consider what it would be like for one of my children had I been the one who died nine years ago. Alex would have been eight and Audrey only five.


I thought, "What would my classmates have told my children about me? Would my life be remarkable? Or even memorable? Loving or selfish? Would I be known as severe or kind? A man who loved God or the World?"
I am thankful for that young man. I'll be thinking of him and of my children and how I might want to be remembered after I am gone.