Flying in solo to combine short sweet visit to my Mom and a Saturday afternoon beer drinking session at Schuyler football game… Then dinner cruise on Hudson round Manhattan … First time back to a reunion since the 5 year… We lost two this year… Cancers… One other just had a heart attack 3 weeks ago… I hear about 30 showed up for the 20 year… Out of maybe 150…? Couple live wires among us should carry the torch down the tunnel of the past… This should be a time of reflection and reconnecting… Probably a lot of old stories… Anyway, we were young once… And our yearbook blurbs were packed with the talk of Young Turks ready to take on the world …lol Has anybody done to old reunion thing yet? What was your take away from it?
That’s this weekend isn’t it. Well have fun.
Missed my 20th from Schuyler but saw a photo of who made it from the class. Actually looked more like a group of old guys and not he classmates I remembered so well. Had hoped to make this year, but work comes first.
Enjoy, hope it’s a great weekend.
[QUOTE=Starboard Ten;120814]Flying in solo to combine short sweet visit to my Mom and a Saturday afternoon beer drinking session at Schuyler football game… Then dinner cruise on Hudson round Manhattan … First time back to a reunion since the 5 year… We lost two this year… Cancers… One other just had a heart attack 3 weeks ago… I hear about 30 showed up for the 20 year… Out of maybe 150…? Couple live wires among us should carry the torch down the tunnel of the past… This should be a time of reflection and reconnecting… Probably a lot of old stories… Anyway, we were young once… And our yearbook blurbs were packed with the talk of Young Turks ready to take on the world …lol Has anybody done to old reunion thing yet? What was your take away from it?[/QUOTE]
I skipped my 25th as the AA insists on having joint reunions for every five years, so my class ('80) would have the same party as, among others, '75. My boss at the time was '75, and was going, I didn’t need to hang with him on my own time. I wnet to the 30th a few years ago, we did our own party and rented a restaraunt in Locust Point. We had about half of the engineers show up, and myself and 4 other deckies.
Last weekend I flew to NY for my 30th reunion for the State University of New York Maritime College. Of the 150 graduates, about 40 were there. Spent about 12 hours together, first tailgating drinking beer on the grass on campus, then on a harbor cruise yacht around Manhattan…telling old stories and seeing how we all have lived our lives… It was very personal… Lots of time for reflections and bringing back long lost memories… Bittersweet at times… There was a surge of excitement… Big broad sincere smiles…
Many of us were in similar phases of life. Had our ambitious times behind us for the most part. Nobody was talking about how they were going to make money or where they were going to buy houses… Nobody was networking, or selling anything… Back when we went to our 5th reunion it was very different… All of us young men were full of pride and power and climbing in careers… Trying to position ourselves for best advantage…
But now we are old. Or older… The grey hairs… The bodies of fathers and near grandfathers… The voices of knowing managers and thoughtful maturity…
Only about 4 brought their wives… Mostly as designated drivers so those men didn’t have to drive home after drinking…
We acted young again being half kidding and half serious. One minute we spoke of stupid things we did while drinking back when… Then next minute we spoke of hiring ten new marine engineers from the school to work at a power plant in New Jersey at $75,000 per year plus overtime…
We lost 4 classmates so far. Three from cancer and one from a Navy jet crash.
Many of us were heading into similar life phases… The empty nest syndrome… Many were married with teenagers and college students… Getting reflective about what life is all about and what we might have to look forward to during this next phase when we are no longer raising kids…
Some spoke of the possibility of retirement… Or at least entertaining the fantasy!
I told them that 20 years ago, if my wife caught me on the computer late at night I might have been looking at porn…
Then 10 years ago, she could have caught me looking at yachts…
But now she would catch me looking at RV’s… Or travel trailers,
And 10 years from now it would be retirement homes…
And 20 years from now it would be “assisted living” homes… 
30 years from now???
The take away from the event was a very positive. If I never see most of these guys again it is fine. I wish them well. But it felt like I got the answers to many curiosities I suppose I’ve had wondering what ever happened those guys and for a brief fleeting moment… We were carried back to a youthful, innocent time in our lives when we knew so much less, seen so much less, and were responsible for so much less than now.
I recommend this experience, even just once, to anyone no matter how bad a taste that school left in your mouth upon graduating.