Okay, it was my FIFTIETH, okay??? Happy???? I was like, “I graduated in ’68, and it’s been 50 years, and I am 68. That’s like magic.” No, that’s like I graduated when I was 18. I was okay at math, but it was 1968, okay? ‘Nuff said.
ANYWAY, there was an open house at the old school, and #4 Daughter, the amazing Sara Marian, wanted to go, ’cause she’s all kinds of amazing like that.
I got there first, and approached this very familiar sight.
Oh, wait! Here’s the patch of grass where my writing/drama buddies and I stood every morning and talked about writing and acting while we waited for the doors to open. Fond memories. Truly fond memories.
Okay, so here’s a gallery of pictures (with captions) and some more doors.
And so we bid a fond farewell to our dear old Alma Mater.
A WRITING PROMPT BASED ON MY POST: Send your main character back to a place in their past. Do they remember it at all? With what (if any) emotions?
MA
Dan Antion
June 7, 2018 at 7:45amThat was an interesting year to be graduating. My brother graduated in ’68. I was happy to stay behind school walls for a few more years.
Marian Allen
June 7, 2018 at 8:31amAs I recall, the closer I got to The Real World, the more restrictive AND the more comforting the school walls became. I was not ready to be a grown up. I don’t know that I’ll ever be.
John Holton
June 7, 2018 at 11:43amI’ve never been to any of my reunions. Friom what I gather from people who went, I didn’t miss anything.
Marian Allen
June 7, 2018 at 12:01pmI went to my fifth and tenth, and haven’t been back until this one. The Open House was a must, and then there was a luncheon with just my graduating class. I would have gone to the Grand Reunion of all classes (we were the first graduating class, so our 50th reunion was the anniversary of the FIRST graduation of the school), but it was on the Belle of Louisville. I don’t do parties in locked rooms, which a paddlewheel boat cruising essentially is. If I can’t leave when I’m ready to leave, I don’t go. But, if it had been held where a quick getaway had been possible, I would have gone to the 50th.
janet
June 7, 2018 at 3:53pmI graduated (high school) in ’71 and have been back for my 40th and 45th reunions. They were more fun than high school was. 🙂 (Although I hasten to add that it was, for the most part, just fine.)
janet
Marian Allen
June 8, 2018 at 8:26amI enjoyed high school, because I fell in with a bunch of other writers. We were also the first graduating class, so we didn’t have any upper classmen giving us grief. I like to think we refrained from giving underclassmen grief as they followed us. I hope I’m not mistaken in that. 🙂
Norm 2.0
June 7, 2018 at 4:15pmLots of good memories from that event I’m sure 🙂
Marian Allen
June 8, 2018 at 8:30amYes! I immediately gravitated to one woman and joined her and her husband at the lunch table. When we introduced ourselves, they were both people I had liked a lot in high school, especially Yvonne. 🙂 Some of the classes have all kept in touch over the years, and some of the people in our class, but my besties were writers who happened to be a year or two behind me. I’m still friends with them, but haven’t kept up with my own class. So, yes, it was great fun! 🙂
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt
June 8, 2018 at 9:45amYou have me wondering if I’ll ever see the Preparatoria Insurgentes again – I have no idea whether they even go in for American-style reunions. In any case, no one who ever went there knows where I am!
Same year (68) and same age. It was a LONG time ago. I can still remember playing chess on the planters, with all the guys lined up behind whoever I was playing, giving him advice. By the end, I’d beaten every one of them at least once. No, I don’t remember how many losses that took. I’m ‘terca’ – stubborn.
Marian Allen
June 8, 2018 at 10:06amGreat story! 😀 When you save up the energy, maybe you could arrange for a visit. Or maybe you could go via Google Earth — I went back to one of my old neighborhoods on Google Earth. It was weird!
Ally Bean
June 9, 2018 at 9:29amMy old high school building is long gone. This is a fun contribution to the door challenge. I hope you had a positive time at your reunion.
Marian Allen
June 9, 2018 at 11:28amIt was a blast! #4 Daughter wanted to go, and we had a great time wandering around the old school. Then we met her feller at the place my school year was gathering and WE had fun socializing. Then my old schoolfellows trickled in, and I joined them. They all remembered me! “Oh, yeah, you were that little nerdy girl with the wild imagination. Always writing something. What are you doing now?” “I’m a published author.” “…Famous??” “Apparently not.” Lol!
joey
June 10, 2018 at 4:58pmCool. I don’t go to the reunions. I live in the same place, though, so I have accidental reunions aplenty. I also keep in touch with the guy who plans the reunions, and he is full of news, so kinda, what’s the point? I see the people I enjoy seeing. I graduated with 327 people, and I reckon I really, really liked about 10. Our girls went where we go, which is where The Mister’s husband went, so that’s nice.
Your math had me like WHA!? but I worked it out. Phew!
Decent doors, but I dig the memorial emblem!
Marian Allen
June 10, 2018 at 5:45pmThat sounds like a good plan. But, um, The Mister’s husband? I thought YOU were The Mister’s husband. Or something. None of my business, really. ANYWAY, I’m on a couple of Facebook groups for my old school, and get some news that way. But I enjoyed seeing people, some of whom had flown across the country to make this 50th reunion, 50th anniversary of the first graduating class.
joey
June 12, 2018 at 6:34pmThat’s crazy! My husband’s FATHER. Gah. If my husband has a husband, I got some real problems!
Gordon
June 10, 2018 at 7:57pmI have to say, you’re certainly a youngster cause I’m a year behind you. I miss many reunions cause they are typically in Hawaii where I graduated but I have been to many now that the milestone ones are held in Las Vegas jointly with 3 other high schools (the locals like to travel to Vegas and it’s a 1.5 hr flight from CA to get there to see old friends). Plans are in the making for the big one but the practice parties are in session for that event.
Marian Allen
June 11, 2018 at 8:57amHee hee! Practice parties sound like fun! Our school has get-togethers once a month, I think, but I don’t drive if I can help it, except for biggies like this 50th. And, at that, I only went to the events that were in the day. Home by dark, is what I like. Not much of a partier — never was.