At the outset it was awkward, meeting with folks with often-familiar names and occasionally-familiar faces (sometimes from the then-and-now pages on the reunion website). But as the events went on it was sometimes having old memories come up, sometimes being reminded, and sometimes observing patterns of speech, expression and action still familiar over the decades, which peeled away the stranger in front of one to reveal the friend so long ago.
But even the "false positives," the ones you probably didn't know back then (and they were many with a class as large as ours) could become friends too.
Perhaps it's somewhat different for those who've attended all the 10th-year reunions and those who've had their own mini-reunions; they've followed each others' lives since. But even they encounter those who pop up as awkward long-lost stranger-friends.
Perhaps some old connections have been renewed and will remain. And there are still opportunities in tomorrow's informal events that some may attend: Catholic Mass in the morning and the Loons game in the afternoon.
But this may begin a somewhat bittersweet time for reflecting on old friends re-encountered. Perhaps, as several folks noted, this becomes more important as we advance in life with children grown and gone, thinking more on our own cultural roots. And there may be other reasons for looking back and re-connecting.
What we do as we leave may be as varied as we are, with reasons as varied. Some may go right back to their daily life. Some may desire a time of quiet and reflection before the world inevitably presses back in with its daily cares.
But this party is over. It has been a better time than I'd even hoped, but those who've followed the blog will understand I might need my own time for reflection. There is much to think about. The work e-mail can just wait until Monday, or since I will traveling home that day, Tuesday when I return to the office.
A big thank you to the MHS 40th Reunion Committee: Kathy Blake Schultz, Kris Clauss Harrison, Alan Cook, Ron Cook, Anne DeBoer, Lorie Eden Murphy, Nancy Humbyrd Hull, Kris Kivela Stoneburner, Barb Lowry, Nancy Nunemaker, Pete Poznak and Paul Sinclair!
Some have asked me about the future of this blog. It is certainly not done yet: if nothing else Kathy will become a guest poster on the blog; she certainly has a different perspective on Michigan and Midlanders. And I have a few photos to select, process, upload and share; I will let Paul Sinclair know when they are ready.
Safe travels.
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