So, what is Reunion to us now?

Gone are the times I would have tried to impress with success, cars, or house.

I am just happy if I can lose a roll from my hips and still fit into my favorite jeans.

But what has that got to do with re-uniting with others from the shadows of my past?
I suppose EGO.

Do I want to be seen as I am now when I envisage the girls and guys from grade 10 and 11 as they or we were?

How silly.
I see the students emerging from HSB every day as I drive past.
They are just kids.
But then I deal with people in the work force who are 28 ...my kids are that age!

And so were we ...kids at 16, 17 , 18 and even 19. I know it didn't feel like it, but we were... even when experimenting with some pretty serious things.

We are not kids any more - and have not been for years. But then, in my mind I don't seem to feel any change from back then. But when I look in the mirror...hmmm...is that really me?

Reunion... I would love to just get together just to see who we have become.
Last time I had a little time to just look around at people - gaze at them -see them smile, laugh and even cry.
To hear them - old best friends stand up and tell stories of the past - there was a magic in this I never expected.

I think, now that I am 58 and so many have already gone to the "other side" - (and I don't mean Toronto), it is all about (perhaps) one last blast and congratulating those who still know how to smile and live... perhaps people like Jack Kennedy below. Talk about a sense of humor. He is one person I would love to see again, or Kevin Carlin, Ricky Rice, Steve and David Poirier. These people made me laugh. And through the laughter I realized that moments go by as if through a sifter. The pearls that stay in memory with a luster rather than a tarnish are those given freely through smiling and community. Some people carried more than their weight- maybe- without even realizing it. But then again, maybe they did.