LEAVING TOWN? GOING HOME? NOT EXACTLY

Leaving town is one thing.

It’s different for everyone. How different?

Some never come back.

But we all carry parts of town, growing up in a place, with us.

Nothing shows it more than a high school reunion on the long side.

That’s where we learn how much we have in common over the years.

And it’s a wonderful feeling to leave with, to hold onto.

I’ve heard, “Why go back to someplace I already know. I like to move forward.”

This is a good idea, but there’s still room for seeing a reinvented town working toward a shared future, still time to mix and mingle.

What better time than a Fortieth High School Reunion?

The Fiftieth High School Reunion

Kids hear about people nearing 70 and think of walkers, wheelchairs, and bed rest.

With their parents in their forties and fifties, all healthy and fit, it’s easy to imagine.

By the time the 50th rolls around our kids are in their 30’s and 40’s, grandkids on phone photos, and we are slightly in shock that we’re not doing so bad.

Maybe it’s just me, but I get a kick seeing people put their best foot forward, or close to it.

To get that organized takes effort and many hands, the busiest belonging to Melanie Gill.

She and I have the G-Bond with Gillaspie and Gill following each other on the class roles.

Everyone else showed up as a result of her work.

My own kids don’t have reunions because they don’t have their own Melanie.

Why wait fifty years to get started?

Leaving Town With Memories Packed Up

The best of times:

Catching up with people telling great stories.

The worst of times:

Missing the back-stories of the past fifty years.

The long-term married couples had a special time.

Whether high school honeys, college sweethearts, or two random people who found each other on accident, there was a pre-game pep talk before the reunion.

What to talk about, what to leave out, who to look for.

I’ll be leaving town, but first a stop at the perfectly named Sunset Beach.

Whether this is the sunset gathering of one of the biggest classes to graduate from North Bend High School, or not, it calls for a beach run.

It’s the last place I saw the bigger family together for my mom and my step-dad.

I’ll be going home, but I’m taking some home with me.

I make room for a Bulldog. Why?

Because my wife wants to be an adopted Bulldog.

Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to work?

Who’s a good girl?