The class of 1958. This was their 54th class reunion. I wasn't there. As I have not been to one since my 10th reunion, in 1968. To add to that, I haven't been back to my home town since 1988, 24 years ago.
All of which may explain why I can only identify a few of the people in this photograph though I grew up with most of them in a very small town in isolated North Dakota. People change over the years and I have come to realize that if you're not keeping track of the changes through the years, you lose track of what the people now look like.
Who would have thought, for example that this handsome young guy from 1958 . . .
. . . would turn into this gray bearded old guy in 2012?
That guy in the upper left in the group picture was one of my best friends in high school and, amazingly, he hasn't changed hardly at all. Plus I've seen him a few times in recent years. He now makes a trip down to Arizona and Texas about every winter and stops for a cup of coffee with me. I remember seeing pictures from, I believe, the 50th reunion which featured a fashion show and he ended it by coming on stage in the same outfit he wore to our senior prom. It still fit him perfectly!
But most of the rest of us have put on weight, gotten gray or white haired or even bald. And of course a handful of my classmates aren't around anymore.
Time. It's a killer! Know what I mean?
The bright, straightforward gaze is exactly the same in both pictures. I doubt you've changed in any of the ways that count.
ReplyDeleteLooks to me like you've aged rather well. And besides, I'd much rather have the wisdom all those gray hairs bring than wear the same belt size. :)
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As we get older time seems to speed up. We have to find a way to slow it down (grin).
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean! I remember going to my 40th class reunion and walking into the room and them walking out to check the signs thinking "this can't be it, all these people are old."
ReplyDeleteYes I try to escape from the clutches of my school days and find that those folks will never leave me alone....
ReplyDeleteBetter come to terms with it, the sooner the better. I hope the English language won't change:
ReplyDeleteThis morning I was reading about the proposal, since accepted, of changing the word "ageing" = "vieillissement" in French by "avancer en âge" = "advance into age"! I am wondering about the use of politicians'salaries...
What counts after all is what goes through one's mind :-)
I know exactly what you mean.
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