Down Memory Lane

Yes, that's me there by my tassel, the second girl down. Just getting that picture taken is a story in itself.

It's a long lane, more like a long and winding road I guess. (Cue classic '60's rock, please) But, gasp, it's been 50 years since I sat in our high school gym with over three hundred other seniors, to listen to speeches we probably cared little about by people that we weren't all that impressed with (this is high school, not a university that would have somebody really cool) in order to finally grasp in our hand this little certificate to prove that we'd all endured 12 years of schooling. It was a warm May 25th, but I don't remember suffering that much as we were on the ground floor, but our families were hot and uncomfortable in the upper bleacher seats that they had to sit on. No fancy outdoor ceremony for us, no sir. No going to some big and fancy auditorium....nope. Back in our day (geezer old lady takes rasping breath...) we made do with the gymnasium for everything. It was a gym for sports, a gym for gym classes, a gym for school dances, a gym for the Prom, a gym for the ceremonies that graduating Seniors attended - Baccalaureate and then Graduation. It was the all purpose big room and by gosh we used it!

Some of these folks I have been in contact with in recent years as our class has it's own really nice website that hosts high schools and colleges too, I suppose. It is a place to connect again which is great. They are having a reunion dinner in July, but I won't be going. It just doesn't work out for me, what with Bill working on weekends and Roseburg being just far enough away that a day trip would be really out of the question so I'd have to stay over and blah, blah, blah. It's okay since I was not in their school system for all 12 years like a lot of them were, just mostly 3 years, and I didn't develop lasting close friendships with anybody. If I had, I'd figure out how to be there. But having said that, I do hold the memories that I have from that time period dear to my heart. And since we have quite a few from our class who are dead and gone, I'm grateful to be here to celebrate the 50th anniversary with my fellow class of '64. Go Roseburg Indians!