GHS '69 Reunion

Graduation brings to an end the wonderful growing up years of our lives.  By the time we graduate from high school, we should be prepared to go to work, maintain a vehicle, and establish a home - not a house, a home.  The friends and acquaintances that we have spent the last 12 years of our life with are all going in different directions.  We cry, hug and promise to keep in touch, but as the summer wears on, those contacts are gone - sometime for good.  We never know what God has in store for these fellow graduates and when or if we will see them again. 

These fellow graduates have big dreams and big plans for their future no matter what their field of interest.  Some will get married and start a family, while others will go on to college or tech school and receive more training.  It doesn't matter where they go or what they do, they will still be part of your past - your history. 

The men that graduated in the late '60s were facing the draft unless that were deferred and many waited with baited breathe to see if they would be called to fight in Viet Nam.  Others planned on joining their choice of the armed services when they graduated.  Jobs for women in the 1960s were limited compared to the options available today.  Secretaries, bookkeepers, teachers, clerks, bank tellers, doctors, lawyers, or work at one of our many mills were the extent of the choices. 

Now we are in 2010.  We have been out of high school for over 40 years and here are a few things we have learned.

• money doesn't bring happiness
• you can't buy health
• work is what you do not you who you are
• friends are not always going to be there
• you will change more in the two years after graduation than in all the 12 years leading up to graduation
• nothing is forever
• think before you do something stupid - some mistakes just don't go away
• keep in touch with God - the more communication you have the better
• expand - your friends, your interests, your knowledge
• parenting doesn't come with a manual - your parents made mistakes, you'll make mistakes, and your children will make mistakes - get over it
• those people who thought they ruled the world, only ruled their world not yours
• if you don't die, you will get old
• be nice - it is harder than being mean, but more people like you
• stand up for what you believe in
• if you are not proud of who you are then something is wrong
• nobody is perfect, be happy with yourself
• nobody else can live your life - it is yours and yours alone - just be ready to talk to God about it one day
• don't waste precious time
• laugh and cry and then get on with it
• it is the small stuff that completes the big picture
• don't let someone else tell you what a good time you had
• protect your memories, they put a smile in a rainy day
• watch the hummingbirds and listen to the crickets

I am so looking forward to our class reunion.  I don't know one thing about these people I graduated with, but we were a family in the midst of change.  It will bring joy to my heart to lay eyes on them once again and know the memories will come rushing back.  We will laugh and cry and dance and sing because that is what we did and who we are.  There are so many of us that have not survived and I will miss those smiles. 

We've come a long way, baby!
Happy reading!
Belle