The death board of yearbook pix at the last class reunion I attended was a bit ominous. It was hard to be upbeat with all of those frozen 18 year old faces staring at us. I will stop going when that list is longer than the guest list...
My alma mater is not the only reunions I've attended. In my early 20's, several of my girlfriends and I went to Chicago annually for Labor Day weekend. One especially fun trip--besides crashing The Bronze Ladies convention and the World Subgenious convention-- we crashed a class reunion. Walking along the waterfront we saw a docked ship that had a partay going on-- a 5 year class reunion gig! We snuck in the back entry by the galley, plastered on some name tags and schmoosed! "Oh, Troy! You look fantastic! You haven't changed AT ALL!!! And we all thought you would be so bald by now!" "Cathy! You look GREAT! But all your body parts are a solid 6" lower!" "Marilyn--six kids already--wow!! And how many dad's??"
(just kidding, we DID pretend to know people, but we were NICE!)
Class reunions seem to come more swiftly, gravity keeps tugging harder and harder, "you are as young as you feel," (What decrepit optimist made that up?) and there is a time for every purpose--where it used to be Miller time, now it's nap time. (unless I can find a good party) (...that is over by 9pm)
©9/2011 Jana B Patrick
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Its a Small World Afterall
A few weeks ago our family was at a remote fishing resort in Canada nestled on an island no bigger than an acre. We especially felt what a small speck on the Earth we were as a few of us guests observed the International Space Station on its lonely orbit across the indigo, star studded Canadian sky. The group got talking and a man from Utah said he used to live in Minnesota and had worked for Dayton's Department Store. Turns out he had had the exact job as I did three years before me as a sales manager of Housewares at Brookdale, one of 13 Dayton's stores...What a small world!.
I recall being in Europe as a young person and waiting for a Heineken Brewery tour in Amsterdam. I said to my friend, Dianne, "Wouldn't it be something if we ever run into Jeanne McGuire? Her family is traveling in Europe somewhere." I felt a tap on my back from the person behind me in line. "She's right over there," her brother laughed and pointed out my college friend. (Admittedly, the fact that it was a beer tour helped boost the odds of this happening.)
"What a small world!" stories are usually fun. That is not always the case. I recall going to a new gynecologist who had me in a compromised position when he said, "You look really familiar."
©2011 Jana B Patrick
I recall being in Europe as a young person and waiting for a Heineken Brewery tour in Amsterdam. I said to my friend, Dianne, "Wouldn't it be something if we ever run into Jeanne McGuire? Her family is traveling in Europe somewhere." I felt a tap on my back from the person behind me in line. "She's right over there," her brother laughed and pointed out my college friend. (Admittedly, the fact that it was a beer tour helped boost the odds of this happening.)
"What a small world!" stories are usually fun. That is not always the case. I recall going to a new gynecologist who had me in a compromised position when he said, "You look really familiar."
©2011 Jana B Patrick
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