60 on 60

 

It came.

When our 60th high school reunion was cancelled because of the pandemic, they put together a booklet with write-ups which included things we might have said had we met in person. We graduated in 1960.

We grew up in Reading, MA in an almost "Leave it to Beaver" community. Women didn't work outside the home (I had one teacher claim if they did, the children would be delinquents--my mother worked, I wasn't a delinquent), poverty was minimal. Divorce was rare.

There were football games, church groups, Rainbow, DeMolay, dances. We dated, broke up, took SATS, felt unpopular, felt popular, went ice skating on ponds. We had study halls, detention, did homework--in other words did the things that kids do in a middle class environment.

A majority of my classmates went to university. Those that didn't, developed trades and did well. 

The world changed. Somethings were better, some not.

One of the things that amazed me was the number of my classmates that had long marriages. As a class we didn't match the national divorce statistics.

Some stayed in Reading or New England. Others drifted across the country. Only myself and a boy I went to a dance with left the U.S. permanently. He's in Australia.

We lost only one classmate in Vietnam. His body wasn't found until the 1994 www.virtualwall.org/dh/HoltRA01a.htm. That was one too many.

In the booklet, we made comments about grandchildren, pets, hobbies, the pandemic, savoring life and having time to do what we really enjoy now. We deal with illnesses, grateful we still can do things we want to do. 

A lot of work went into the booklet. The editor was my literary co-editor of the yearbook. 

Probably we won't have another reunion. If we don't, it was a pleasure looking at 60 on 60.