'Lost In The '50's Again'

This weekend past, I accompanied my wife to her 55th St. Teresa Academy (East St. Louis) class reunion, a celebration milestone that my own East St. Louis high school high school group embraced a year earlier. Both classes have demonstrated a consistent five-year reunion pattern since 1957 and 1958 respectively. My wife and I have both enjoyed these re-engagement weekends and observed our celebratory manner change dramatically over the years.

Back at the fifth year class reunion (s) actually noted little physical changes to our 'classmates.' It was the next three five-year interval marking points that caught my eyes and a confirmation agreement wink from my wife; it was during those 15-years that many guys began sporting 'larger foreheads' and expanding trouser wait-size while the ladies were taking a child bearing beating. At the twenty-fifth reunion, the gals caught a second-wind; they were getting the 'groove' back while the guys were still fighting the battle of the bulge.

If my memory serves me, that's becoming problematic with each reunion, I recall those early reunions were accentuated with loud music and fast dancing. A few reunions passed and the entertainment music at our reunions had become quieter and the dancing much slower and more infrequent. At my 50th class reunion, I noticed that most of the classmates remained 'sitting down' on their bigger butts and 'doing' the hand-arm contortions to the Village Peoples' 'Y M C A.'

Sadly, these last two high school class reunion gatherings found a longer list of names offered in memorial-remembrance and the 'table-conversations shifting from grandkids to health-horror stories and names of medical 'specialists.' Back at the first few class-reunions in the 1960's, we danced into the wee-hours and ate a Denny's 'Grand Slam' breakfast at 3:00 A.M. This past Saturday night, my wife and I were back at the Drury Inn and in our pajamas by 11:00 P.M.

I did make two (2) mental notes on our drive back to Decatur. I shall soon forward to the respective class reunion planning committees the following suggestions: (1) We might wish to have a seventy-fifth birthday party in 'two-years' and (2) all future reunions might best be held on Saturday afternoons, thus addressing many mates' declining night time driving skill.

Gerry and I will continue to look forward to those class reunions in spite of the battles of aging. It is a wonderful collective pause among old friends to recall, 'THE WAY WE WERE' and share...as the song reminds, these 'MOMENTS TO REMEMBER.'