Ahhh...the march of time

When we were born, we were closer to the end of the 1800's than we are now to the year of our birth. We've personally experienced over a third of the history that has passed since the end of the Civil War. And over a fifth of the history since the American Revolution.

We're about four times older than we were when we watched the lunar landing on our little, grainy, black and white TV sets. And between five and six times older than we were the first time we saw John, Paul, George and Ringo on the Ed Sullivan Show.

A new, local "Oldies Station" plays "...hits from the Sixties, the Seventies, and the Eighties." Think about that. Twelve of their "Oldies" years occurred before we left Encinal High, and eighteen of them happened after we were already out!

Half of the Beatles are already gone. So are many of the Black Panthers, much of the UFW leadership, a large number of the Freedom Riders, countless Viet Nam-era vets (of both the war and the peace movement), and an innumerable list of other icons in our collective experience, artistic, athletic, religious, socio-political… Not to mention our own personal losses - parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends, classmates...

Indeed, time just marches right on, paying little attention to our shifting perspective on the grand parade. Furthermore, not to be macabre, it is worth remembering that each of us is almost certainly already on the home stretch, having lived over half of our personal allotment of sunrises.

Which casts the high-school reunion in a different light.

It's no longer as much about crowing competitively around some new acquisition or accomplishment as about celebrating with infrequently-seen loved ones some deeper, more transcendent joy or insight. Or perhaps about empathizing over a shared experience of trial-and-error or of struggle, whether ending in triumph or defeat. It's ultimately about sharing a realer version of life-story, with some of the very people who shared the rose-colored glasses with us when they were such a comfortable fit.

Of course, there's still time to revisit, and perhaps rekindle, an old crush. Or to finally patch up that ridiculous old misunderstanding with a used-to-be-close-friend, after all these years. Or even to finally take the risk, reaching out to that person who was somehow too intimidating in school and somehow still vaguely and inexplicably inaccessible when we gathered at 20 or 30 years out.

It's not like we have an inexhaustible number of chances left, you know.

The Encinal High School 40th Reunion Committee has already begun to discuss plans for a couple of dates next August, about mid-month, for us all to gather in each other's company, sharing some warm memories of days gone by and creating some fresh ones, just as warm, to comfort us in the years ahead. Speaking of time, there's plenty of it left for you to clear your calendar and make your travel plans.

We really, really hope that you can make it.