Reconnecting

I took a chance, albeit a small one.  Not being sure if anyone from Academy Class of '69 remembered me has been bugging me royally for weeks.  I have an insatiable need to be remembered.  The first few names on my friend list were easy ones.  They were childhood friends, or are friends still.  The next group...well...that was harder.  Would they have any idea who I am?  So, I nervously clicked on twenty names from my past.  Some I remembered from Biology 101, Miss Wagner; some from Honors English, Miss Burgoyne; some from the Academe staff, junior high Christmas caroling or chemistry.  Some I remembered for their piercing eyes, their smiling faces, their laughing voices, their genius or their chutzpa.  Some had prowess on the football field; one took a quarter off my lunch tray.

I am amazed as I check my email and notifications on Facebook.  It has been just a couple of days, but at last count eleven  twelve thirteen fourteen  fifteen accepted my request.  It seems we all share a need to come home in some way.  "Academy, class of '69" jump-starts our memories.

Some of them I will never see again, some faces I may not recollect if I saw them today.  Some are in town still, some far removed.  Some will come to the reunion in 2014.  I hope so.

My life has been a simple one--marriage, children, grandchildren and several careers.  It has taken me many years of searching to find out who I am.  I learn more every day.  I am crossing things off my private Bucket List almost daily, not to be confused with my public list (See "The Bucket List" post from February).  I have arrived at the place I want to be.  Well, almost.

Oh,yes, there are some I will never hear from for whatever reason. So sad!  Back then, we had a camaraderie even if we were not bosom buddies.  There were crushes and envy, smiles and endless walks around the hallways.  Things are different now.  We were part of a special generation, one of protest, music, love beads, men on the moon and tragedy. We made more technological, scientific and cultural advances than any before us.  Those events alone should bind us.

I am working on a series of essays about those I remember best.  You might have read "Beth and Deb BFF".   There will also be my recollection of the disturbance that separated us for the moment, but made us stronger and closer in the long run.  The people we knew, the things we shared, the friendships we made or missed out on--all of these contributed to who we are today.

It has taken me forty years.  At last I feel like a part of the Class of '69.