Forty years and still loving the reunions

I’m not sure how it happened, but in the blink of an eye – well, perhaps not that quick – but 40 years have passed by since I walked across the stage to grab my high school diploma

In just a few short weeks, a good share of our 140-member class will gather for yet another reunion. 

I’ve been to each and every one of them, and have come away from each and every one of them happy that I was there to soak of the up the memories, relive our glory days and catch up with my classmates and friends.

In recent months, our Class of ’82 Facebook page has been inundated with photos from our yearbooks, starting as early as kindergarten all the way on up through our senior year. 

Last night, as I was wrapping up a long day at the office, Mary – or as I lovingly called her, ‘Scary Mary’ – messaged me. Mary is our class president. And she’s a good one. Last night, she reminded me that I may have been the one who convinced her go after the presidency.

“So, someone asked me why I ran for class president our senior year knowing that we would have reunion planning ahead of us,” she wrote. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I told then it was Jill’s fault. The story I remember is you asked me to run to make sure we kept everyone together for the reunions. (Little did we know then that Facebook would do it for us!)”

I may have been the culprit who encouraged her to do so. Honestly, I don’t remember.

But if I did, I’m sure glad that I did, because Mary has been a trooper for every reunion, gathering up volunteers to stage these multiple class parties, which by the way, we voted to do so every five years. We’ve missed a few over the years, but have always hit the milestone years – five, 10, 20, 25, 30, 35 and now this one.

I well remember the day that as freshmen, they hauled us all into the high school’s Little Theatre. For whatever reason, they called it “Little,” but actually it the only theatre within our school district. Anyway, they lectured us on being a “cliquey” class and encouraged us to mingle some with the kids that were in the grades above us.

I remember being somewhat “proud” of the fact that we stuck together, that we were unified, that we were friends, no matter which circle of friends in our class that we actually hung with.

And that leads me back to friends like Mary, who’ve made a point to keep the Class of ’82 “cliquey” and reunited to relive our glory days, laugh together at goofy moments along the way and remember those classmates – now too many – that are no longer with us.

Yes, in just a few short weeks, I’ll be answering to a nickname that I’m typically referred to, “Jilly Pilly” and all the while will be smiling inside as we take a step back in time to 1982, a time that the world was just waiting for us to make our mark.