Nostalgic Breakfast

Every six weeks or so I have breakfast with a high school classmate. Hi, Nancy! We meet at Danielsville’s Blue Mountain Drive-in, midway between our respective homes. We have good food (their homefries are great!), catch up on our lives, and, of course, reminisce. This past Friday she brought something different to the table, literally. She had a framed picture of our high school class standing in front of the Capitol, in Washington. “We have a project!” she announced. “We are going to name every class member.”

I thought to myself, then said out loud, that this will be a breeze. My class had only 121 members. I write about high school all the time. I knew these people well, fifty years ago. Boy, was I wrong! There were a handful of classmates that we could not name. Here we are two days later and there is still a little controversy. We are going to bring in a third opinion.

Frustrated at our failure, I instead focus on the good that came out of our project. What a treat that was to look at each individual and remember them as they were 51 years ago and wonder where they are today. Of course, some of them are no longer with us. Nancy could relate some encounters with classmates that I hadn’t thought of in decades. I shared what I knew about some others. The vast majority we lost track of completely. Whatever happened to Wayne Zader and Mark Bowers? How about Sandra Brown and Peggy Sessa? Enquiring minds want to know!

Here were 121 people from Slatington, Walnutport, and Washington Township. We were all thrown together to share this important time of our lives only because all of our parents conceived us within a certain calendar year. That sounds a little crass put like that. But it isn’t crass at all. It created a bond among kids with different likes and interests. It created a bond that exists, for many of us, to this day, emotionally if not physically. Can you tell I really enjoyed my high school years? I wish my daughter, Emma, could say the same.

Interestingly, neither Nancy nor I could remember much about our class trip to Washington. Maybe that is because it marked an ending to an awesome four years.

That is where our project stands. As we finished breakfast, I got a little sad about my high school class. I miss every single one of them. We are getting older. Our ranks are shrinking. We are on this earth for such a very short time. Please lets just love one another.