Too excited to sleep

It's 5:00 A.M. and I am too excited to sleep. The first night of our reunion weekend has ended and I couldn't be more pleased.

It wasn't the number of people who came up to me and Karen to thank us for all the hard work we had put into this reunion (though we did enjoy that too), it was the wide smiles on people's faces and the number of people who told us what a fabulous time they were having.

What was especially pleasing were the number of people who were attending a reunion for the very first time. Karen and I had made a special effort to reach out to those who felt rejected or neglected in high school. Forty years is a long time to carry negative memories. We wanted to help them remember the fonder thoughts that may have been buried beneath all the rest of the junk we carry around with us. From our conversations, the number of first timers was over 50. We hope we were able to help you reconnect with some of those more positive experiences.

And for those of us who are reunion junkies, it is so satisfying to reconnect every five or ten years with people who had such a large impact on our lives as we were growing up. Whether it was at a vacation you took together, a birthday party, cotillion, or just school time interaction, those memories bring a huge smile to our faces. For those who say that we "live in the past", I only wish them as many wonderful thoughts from their current experiences.

Tonight will generate a whole flood of different memories as we get the opportunity for extended conversations at our dinner tables. We may even have mixed memories as we dance to the 50's and 60's music with our classmates from those days. (How many of you can connect a special person with a particular song?)

Some of those memories may not be joyous. (Kathy Nelson and I had a special song that we shared together. Unfortunately Kathy is no longer with us). But others will remind us of happier times and for me, songs that still had words and a beat that you could dance to and sing - like "I told the Witch Doctor".

So If I am up again tomorrow night, I will reflect on day 2 of our our reunion weekend. Have a great weekend and a great lifetime.