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Ahoy mates!
It's been almost two years since we had our fortieth!
If you don't already know: We had a blast before it even started, when we arrived with the boxes of decorations and some of the early birds helped. Dan DelCarlo, Rich Black, Dorothy Seramur were checking into the hotel, and we snagged them. Dan and Rich are the official "palm tree" assemblers now until infinity. Wayne Hill wandered in and helped us with design coordination. Dorothy Seramur helped us hang lights, pirate cutouts, pirate flags. Then Roanne Jones and Cheryl Palmer showed up with candles and balloons and assembled the pirate centerpieces. (anybody we forgot?) Soon, we were laughing and talking nonstop like we were setting up for the senior ball.
Six o'clock the fun began. Marlene Schwartz is our official greeter and registration hostess and gave everyone their nametags.
As we made the rounds, we all wondered, is it true, has it really been forty years? We CANNOT be on our way to sixty, NO WAY!!!!! Must be a mistake, a typo or something.
One thing, we all look great! Not exactly like our grad pix, but young and vital with so much living yet to do. And the great thing; nobody came with their nose in the air looking to brag about how successful they are. After forty years, our idea of what success really means has radically changed.
And after forty years we've all been down many roads, some rockier than others, but we all got our start from the same place. Is that why we come to reunions, to get in touch with our roots for a few hours, to be among people who were around when we launched from youth to adult? Remember when we left SLHS with dreams as big as the stars? (And for me and Jill Ashman, at least, we dreamed of being stars.) Talking to classmates, most of us never saw those dreams realized (no Broadway for Jill or me) but it doesn't matter. Those dreams infused our lives and brought us to where we are today.
Many of us talked about our third act of life, living out our passions. Many of us have done just that, made major moves and lifestyle changes. Some of us have dealt with cancer, divorce and tragedies, but everybody had a smile on their face re-living their high school days, growing up in San Leandro.
It was a great place to be from, in those days. We were proud of our school and our town.
Many of us are still in the Bay Area. Some of us settled in faraway places like Alaska (Tim Hudson) and Bath, England (Wayne Hill.) Others came from Nevada and Texas. Everybody was glad they came.
Please post anything of interest to your old pals, a website if you have one. We want to support whatever you are doing. Got a website, pass it on. Want to organize your grammar school reunion, we'll post it. Whatever.
The best part of the reunion is being alive and being able to show up. For those who missed it, we missed YOU.
SEE YOU ALL IN 2011! Be ready for the invite.
Jan
PS, We took to heart every suggestion and already made a list of what worked and what didn't for the 45th. So, it should be the best one yet!!!! If you want to comment, let us know.
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