Forty years.
Sounds like a long time.
That’s probably because it is a long time, even if you’re one of those Galapagos turtles.
There’s a Pink Floyd lyric that’s always been lodged in my brain (taking up room that should be devoted to more important matters): “Then one day you find, 10 years have got behind you …”
Then I remember listening to that 10 years after my graduation, and earnestly taking a mental tally of my life over the past 10 years. It was satisfying.
Where is this going?
Well, this weekend is my 40th high school reunion. I still haven’t made up my mind about attending.
When a classmate who’ll be flying n from California asked (“You will be there, right?”) taking for granted I planned to go, my response was, “Magic 8-Ball.”
Love those answers revealed by the Magic 8-Ball.
This occasion unearths a trove of thoughts and emotions.
The one that stands out, the one that strikes me most deeply, is the image in my mind of flipping the calendar forward so many pages to the date of my own daughter’s high school graduation.
I do the math. Crunch the numbers. She’ll be 18 in 2025. When she graduates from high school, I’ll be 67 going on 68.
Her 40th reunion? Not too likely I’ll be asking her if she’s going or not. Then again, I still have both of my parents, but they don’t even know my reunion is taking place.
Will she experience the same mental dilemma I’m experiencing?
I had one close friend in high school, and the last I heard the organizers were still looking for him.
When your graduating class is 62 students , everyone certainly knows everyone. You don’t have to be especially outgoing — there are plenty of opportunities for academic and personal interactions.
It’ll be different for my daughter. She is warm and outgoing and makes friends everywhere she goes, usually in less than 5 minutes. I recently overheard a friend tell her, “I wish I was like you. Everybody is your friend.”
Forty years on, whether it’s a small school or a large one, the decision for her will be a no-brainer. Of course she’ll be there. She’ll attend all the other events and gatherings associated with the occasion, as well.
She’ll laugh and talk about all that’s happened over the past 40 years, how their lives have changed. They’ll dust off memories from their own long ago..
Maybe she’ll dust off this old blog piece, too, by then nearly 50 years old, and smile.
That way, I’ll be with her on that day, in her thoughts, and she’ll hear my voice and feel my love.
I’ll always be with you.
