Thursday, March 27, 2014

The Reunion

Me, 1954

I don't usually look backward but I have been doing that in the last couple of weeks. I've sent in my check for a reservation for my 60th high school class reunion. Actually it isn't the 60th this year. It is the 59th but my class is combining with the class of '54 for the big event. Sixty years! It doesn't seem possible.
 
The class has had reunions in the past but for one reason or another Ned and I only went to one and that one was a long, long time ago. We kept up with some classmates for about ten or twelve years but by that time some had moved away or across town. Our kids were involved in school activities or sports and we drifted apart over time.

It was a large class of about 400 people and I have to admit that after graduation, it was like I left some of them on the school steps. So my memories of them are that she had long hair or he was in the ROTC or she was going to school in Louisiana. I have a big gap to cover to find out what has happened to them and where they are now. Today, I exchanged emails today with a classmate and in about 15 lines of text he hit the highlights of the last 60 years. I think there is a lot more to learn about between those lines of text. But it was great to connect again.

I've also been exchanging emails with another classmate for the last couple of weeks. What fun that has been. We certainly knew each other in high school but we were involved in different activities. Now that we are connecting again, we are finding so many things we have in common. I don't know why we weren't the best buddies in high school.

Milby High School has been around since the 1920's. Ned's Dad graduated from there in 1933 and so  did Ned's aunts. Ned and I graduated from Milby in 1955. There have been additions to the school since we graduated. It is much bigger but another renovation is about to start. I haven't been in the school since 1955 although I've driven by just to take a look several times in recent years. I've gotten permission to go inside and photograph while I am in Houston this summer. I don't know what I'll feel when I walk through the doors but I hope that my camera will find some of the memories from 60 years ago.

Yes, that is a picture of me. It was made on an Easter Sunday, 1954. I'm wearing a hat. I made my dress and the dress also had a tailored jacket that I could switch with the shawl. Oh, readers, do not laugh. That was the fashion of the day!


18 comments:

  1. Laugh? Gracious no. You're beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Then and now I might add.

    Enjoy Memory Lane. The time is right it seems to travel down it.

    Barbara

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  2. Barbara, I don't know about beautiful but I was pencil slim then and I am not today. LOL
    You are right. This journey down memory lane is feeling "right."

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  3. You look great but those houses look a little fragile!

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    1. Christine, I think what looks fragile is Mrs. Smith's rose trellis on the front of her house. The houses are still standing. Actually the one that you can't see that I am standing in front of was the one I lived in. The current owners have enclosed the front porch and garage as a part of the house and built a garage in the back. I think it looks better than when I lived there.

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  4. go Billie ;)
    on Apr.26th we're having the OGSR
    Old Guys Surf Reunion at Surfside beach
    I truly miss the simple Houston of our teenage years

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    1. Jack, Those were wonderful times. I could walk about 3 blocks and get on the bus, go downtown to the "big" movie theatres, and have a hotdog at James Coney Island. I swear it was as good as any event and dinner I could go to today.....and it cost a lot less!

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  5. One of the organizers of my 50th Reunion set up a Facebook page to find everyone of our 178 graduates. She did well and I think, other then those that had passed on, had found all but about 40 or 50.
    Going to that reunion was absolutely a BLAST! I know you'll have a great time. The funniest thing is the guys who had the band Cookie and the Cupcakes who played at our Grad prom, came and played at the reunion. It was beyond GREAT. Have fun!

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  6. In each incarnation of my life, I have kept in touch with at least a handful of friends: grade school, high school, college, Air Force, law practice. I consider them the witnesses of my life. Often, they serve as my memory. But, more importantly, they are part of who I am. And I appreciate all of them. You, of course, are in the most recent group -- the bloggers.

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    1. Steve, I'm glad to be included in your bloggers. It is pretty amazing the connections we have made through blogging isn't it?

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  7. My high school is having their 60th reunion in a couple of weeks and do to my teaching schedule I can't go. I have not seen any of them since graduation. I doubt I would recognize anyone. All but me stayed close to home. ....interesting.

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    1. Frank, I'm finding out that a lot of my Milby Buffalo herd, have been on the move to some pretty interesting places. So it should be fun to try to catch up.

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  8. I think you are exquisite and I love the shawl! I wish they would come back in to fashion.

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    1. Isla, Scraves and Shawls cycle through the fashion scene from time to time. I always try to wear them when they are in fashion but I always end up with them just hanging while so many other women make them look beautiful. The Mexican women, especially the older ones, can just flip their shawl over their head and around their shoulders and it stays in place and they look lovely. I have a beautiful and expensive Mexican shawl. When I try to wear it, I can't even get out the door before it is a mess.

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  9. What a great look! And you still wear the same lovely smile.

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    1. Andean, Thank you. Yes, I'm still smiling but I have so many blessings in my life, I have a lot to smile about.

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