Mom is published!!!

Check this out! Mom is published!

Just in case you can't read it all, here's the story itself!

When I was in high school, I never ever considered how I would feel, what I would think about, and certainly not how I would look when the 50th reunion of my class came along. It simply never reached the edge of my conscience. Kids don’t think about things like this. Kids don’t contemplate what it will be like to be semi-old.

And frankly, life is busy enough that when you have become an adult, you don’t contemplate the looming retirement, or the friends you haven’t seen since you moved away. We are too busy living our lives. Caring for our loved ones. Earning a living. And then one day you open your mailbox and find an invitation to your class reunion.

The class reunion for the 50th anniversary of your high school graduation. 50th! The first thing out of your mouth might be “Oh my God!!” You will definitely say “50th??!!” How can that possibly be? You wonder if it’s true. Is it really 50 years since those fresh-faced girls and boys set out to make their way in the world? And then, of course, you realize that yes indeed, it really is true. This is all that went through my mind in the flash of an instant after opening that envelope.

What have they all made of their lives? Who is no longer in this lifetime? What does that lovely boy I had a crush on look like today? And what ever happened to the girl who sat next to me in every single class, just because of the alphabetical seating?

She was a dear friend throughout high school, but life allowed us to drift apart and I haven’t seen her in at least 45 years. My thoughts swirled around while I was deciding if I could make the time/take the time/find the time to go back.

I really don’t want to ever have to live all of it again. But I found I could embrace the new idea of seeing these grown-ups. The rosy glow of the memories tickled my heart. To be sure I also remembered the heartbreaking, sometimes devastating moments that made me glad to be away from those people and that time. But, of course, I know that the circumstances today are different from those of 50 years ago.

People do change — generally for the better. Life has a way of molding 50 years of experience into compassion and understanding for all of us. And a life lived will also make those years of youth take on a delightfully misty dreamlike quality. We forget the harder times and remember what was beautiful about that earlier life. I wondered if by agreeing to go, I would open up a whole new box of memories that didn’t have such a rosy hue.

After much contemplation and a lot of pushing and shoving of schedules, I decided that I could attend. I got everything all set up, and our drive to central Pennsylvania was underway. My husband and I were staying with my family, so on top of the reunion was some family drama to work through as well. All of this mess of feelings went with me to our gathering of semi-oldsters who were firmly planted in my memories as youngsters!

I was able to match up most of the faces I was seeing to the face of the earlier image I remembered. Most of them. Sometimes, even when I knew the name (name tags with pictures, of course), I wasn’t able to find that beautiful younger version in the older beautiful reality. It was definitely disconcerting. And it was a bit overwhelming, too. We laughed a lot, we cried a little, we hugged and held on to each other. We met husbands and wives, most of whom were long-term partners. In short, this meeting of semi-old souls was wonderful. And so filled with feelings that, for me at least, it was overwhelming.

I’m so very glad I made the decision to find my past. I renewed some friendships. I found where I began and why I developed into who I am today. There was some soul-searching involved. That’s usually a good thing.

I wish everyone who was there a rosy-colored remembrance of our young lives and of our trip into the past to find our beginnings.

Beverly Anderson has lived in Henrico County for the past 35 years, and is originally from central Pennsylvania. She is currently not retired, but not working either. She’s taking a break.