Travel can take you from here to there, but it can also take you from now to then. My recent trip to Wantagh, New York for my 50th high school reunion involved a little of the former and a lot of the latter.
When my friends and I graduated half a century ago, we couldn’t wait to leave our sleepy hometown. Today, we’re scattered around the country and the globe, having seen, done, and experienced things none of us could have dreamed of in high school.
Some of us have kept in regular touch; others I haven’t talked to since the Ford Administration. I’d say we picked up right where we left off, but that wouldn’t be true. In fact, it’s an understatement. Gone are the cliques, the teenage insecurities, the craving to impress, the uncertainty about who we were and where we were headed.
What’s left: our shared beginnings. And that, as it turns out, is a great deal.
As one classmate said to me, the reunion made it possible to return, for a couple of days, to a time when life wasn’t so crazed and complicated. (She is one of several people I conversed with at the reunion more than I ever did in high school, and whom I sure wish I’d known better back in the day.)
I’d add a corollary: being surrounded by people who “knew us when” reminds us who we are deep down. As author Ally Condie has said, “growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled.”
Fellow ’76ers, it was a joy reconnecting with you! It was a magical, heartwarming, inspirational weekend. Many thanks to our fantastic Reunion Committee!!
I’ll close this post with some photos I took in Manhattan, where I spent a couple of days after the reunion.
