Reunion thoughts 06/29/09
You mention the word reunion and typically think of an event involving family or classmates from school. My wife and I met in college and earlier this month took our kids to our reunion. It was one of those milestone reunions!! The nice thing is the college is not terribly far from where we live and, ever since we graduated some years ago, always made a few trips to campus in between semesters during the summer. Inevitably as we'd stroll down along the lake or throughout campus memories will fill our heads and hearts. There would also be times (and they could never be predicted)when we'd be in a certain part of campus and have a flash back. It would take us back to the very moment something happened while in our time there. What always amazed me was the impact those 4 years have had on our lives.
Flash forward to this reunion earlier this month. The two main activities we selected were an afternoon BBQ behind the dining hall we went to most of our years at the college and a private reception for our class year with the President of the college. Just being behind the dining hall looking at the lake brought back a lot of memories and the only thing that has really changed in all these years are the heights of the trees and renovations that have happened to the dorms. While at the BBQ we struck up nice conversation with fellow classmates Steve and Fred who are from the Albany, NY area. It turns out Fred was an Industrial Arts major and knew my roomate who majored in "IA" as well. Our conversation concluded with the hope of keeping in touch but enriched nonetheless by our meeting and thoughts shared.
Then came the President's reception and one incredible flashback. The dorm I lived in for three years was an all guys dorm and one floor below me was a brotherhood of guys who pretty much ran and stuck together the whole four years. Jerry, Bob and Sean were there from the beginning and Joe joined the pack in junior year. There's an awesome picture of the guys with me and my family in the photo section of this web site. That picture is one of my most favorites...ever and I say that because of all it represents. Even though we all have been to previous reunions I don't remember seeing any of these guys so in my mind a lot of time has passed. Every single one of has an extremely genuine smile and it reflects the time we had together both at the President's reception and a dinner that followed on central campus (where the picture was taken).
While these guys were a brotherhood their friendliness extended outward. Bob and I shared the Western New York connection...he from West Seneca and me Amherst. Jerry and I think a lot a like and we were both resident assistants (RA's)during a summer session. Sean was...well Sean. Always easy to talk to and would always tell you what was on his mind.
Some of the things that they shared with us kind of reminded me of my Father's wake. What I mean by that is during his wake a lot of my Dad's former co-workers talked the "old times" with me and some of the "things" they did with my Dad or that my Dad just did. Certainly didn't change the way I felt about my Dad but I got a sense of the brotherhood he had with his buddies, much the same as Jerry, Bob, Sean & Joe. Between the President's reception and dinner I learned of their admiration for birds!! I learned from Bob that during first semester he told my eventual girlfriend and wife that she needed to keep her head up. The weird twist on that is I always saw Ann as a head up, forward looking and very confident person. Could that one moment of time Bob invested in her have had that big of an impact? All I know is everything in life happens for a reason.
Jerry shared a story with my son (that we could all hear)about something that happened the first weekend we were all up at campus that had a profound impact on his life and that involved me. He basically asked my son "Who do I think your Dad is?" and proceeded to tell a story of how a bunch of us (including me) were in the water swimming and a bunch (including Jerry) were on the shore. Far away from anyone Jerry was throwing rocks into the water when a thin one hooked on him and hit someone next to me right in the forehead. This person (Mike) was stunned and started to go under water when I grabbed him and brought him to shore. Mike made a full recovery but Jerry shuttered to think what his life would have been like if that story had a different ending. He got very emotional telling the story and what I don't understand is why I had blocked it out of my memory all these years. I block stuff out that tends to not have a happy ending but yet I blocked this out.
There was a lot more sharing of stories between us all and it made for an incredible what turned out to be about 4 hours together. During that time I frequently went back in time to when we were all students and relived the moments. And for all the stories I heard for the first time I tried to remember where I was and then relive it almost as a fly on the wall.
The beauty of our group picture and of pictures in general is they freeze a moment in time forever. I like video but have always preferred pictures. For me I look at this group picture and I relive our 4 hours together and then relive our 4 years at the college and how all this time can pass in between.
I salute you guys...the four of you represent your floor, your brotherhood admirably. You are all welcome at our home, either as individuals or as your brotherhood. I love to cook and my son does as well and love the thought of breaking bread with you guys again.
Peace...