40th High School Reunion Reminds Us How Quickly Time Passes

My mom always told me time goes by faster as you get older. Don’t you just hate it when mom is always right?

On Aug. 27, I attended my Class of 1971 reunion at Aubree’s Pizzeria and Grill in Dexter. It’s been an unbelievable 40 years since I graduated. Let me repeat ... 40 years! I just have to cite that old cliché. Where did the time go?

At first there was no reunion plans, but as the summer slipped away, our class president, Mike Kinaschuk, set the wheels in motion. With the help of our class record keeper, Kathy Rice Murrel, the event came together in a matter of weeks.

Despite the short notice, about 33 alumni made it that evening including some from out of state. One of my classmates, Linda Brooks Smith, came from Alabama and stayed with her mom just a mile from my house. As I picked her up before the reunion, we both admitted to being a little nervous. Who will be there and what exactly are we all expecting?

Right away, I got off to a rough start. As I walked in the door, I called someone by the wrong name. I worried I would repeat the mistake with others the rest of the evening. Not to fear ... name tags to the rescue!

After all these years, I like to think I look pretty much the same. However, when greeting others, I caught them taking a quick glance at my own name tag because they didn’t recall who the heck I was either. It’s good to have a reality check once in awhile.

In the beginning, nobody ate or even sat down at a table. There was so much talking, the sound was deafening and I had to raise my voice in order for others to hear me. Usually that happens when there’s music. However, there was no music, just a lot of catching up.

While I was busy with my life for the past 40 years, so was everyone else. Some raised children and have grandchildren. Occupations varied from teachers, law enforcement, computer techies, exercise instructors, a salsa teacher, and many more.

There was lots of reminiscing going on as many of us turned the pages of the 1971 DHS yearbook. We laughed at our hair, bragged about our winning Dreadnaught basketball team, and recalled our three years in last place in the homecoming float competition. However, we finally earned the top prize as seniors with our butterfly float announcing, “Butterfly Home Hornets,” referring to the Saline Hornets who the Dreadnaughts played that night so long ago.

Sadly, as it happens at occasions like this, there was a memorial collage for classmates no longer with us. Some we knew about, some not. In any case, we all wished they had been there for this wonderful evening.

Now that the reunion is over and the afterglow is fading, photos from the evening are flying across the Internet through e-mails and Facebook. Forty years ago, we could never have imagined such technology. Now it’s easy to stay in touch.

Everyone in the class agreed to have our next reunion in five years. In fact, the planning has already begun. When the next reunion date and location is set, I’ll think to myself, “Didn’t we just have the 40th?” Then I’ll remember what my mom so wisely told me about how quickly time passes, especially as we get older. Maybe classmates will look just a bit different than I remember them today and vice-versa. But as long as everyone wears name tags, I should be good to go.