A Special Reunion

After more than 25 years, a group of people from a small private school finally came together on a cool February morning. Thank you to the very special people who brought us all together again and made this magical reunion possible.

After exchanging countless hugs, kisses and smiles, we enjoyed a magnificent meal at Johnny Carino's Italian Restaurant. Name tags awaited us, but these were not typical tags. No.No. There was much too much creativity and love in this group to settle for ordinary. We all proudly displayed our laminated tags with our old school pictures. Some of us were lucky; we received two sided tags, one side pleasant on the eyes and the other not so easy to bear.

The memories quickly began rushing back and we found ourselves recalling the old days, the days of carefree afternoons playing in the school yard or the days when all we thought about was the weekend, our friends and having a good time. Back then, Friday took forever to arrive. We were young and free, and life was good even when we thought it was not. I was overwhelmed when I saw the children I once knew walk in to the restaurant with their own children by their side. I then realized that the gentle years had left their mark on us all. As we glanced at each other, we searched for the child we once were and therefore failed to recognize the man or woman we had become. We were strangers and yet not strangers at all.

Although we have all gone our separate ways and experienced great joy and great pain, our eyes still glimmer with hope and our hearts overflow with love. We have triumphed and left our mark on the world and on each other. We achieved success in a variety of ways; we became professionals, mothers, wives, husbands and fathers, in essence decent men and women.

Amidst our happiness, there were moments of sadness too as we remembered those we had lost through the years. Isak Dinesen once said, “Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever...”

Many years ago we set off on our own separate journey, anxious to explore life and accomplish new goals. Did anyone ever think then that we would one day find a way back to each other? Did anyone of you ever imagine that it would feel this good?

On this day, we hungered for information, a touch, a picture, a story or a simple glance so we could record the moment forever. We yearned for that friend and classmate we once had. Our reunion had not ended, and we had already begun planning the next one. Our hunger to reunite once again with the boy or the girl in the old school yearbook continues.

My friends...God has been very good to us, for we are all very blessed......

"Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest."

Georgia O'Keeffe