Susan K. Housholder (Johnson)
It's been more than two weeks now since many of us gathered to celebrate our sixtieth class reunion here in Fort Wayne. I thought someone would have written about this event already, but since time has passed and nothing has been added here, I can't resist.
Many of us spent two evenings together, reacquainting ourselves, reminiscing our youth, and catching up on years and years of days since we have seen or spoken to one another. Friday evening we met in the elegant and spacious ballroom of a new north-side Hilton hotel. It was noisy and the air was crisp with excitement as we ate and drank our way through gathered groups and toward a 10:00 P.M. bell. Now here is a funny thing to share with you. The committee initially planned the evening and announced it to all in our first invitation - way back when - last fall or winter - as ending at 10:00 P.M. Somehow, however, the Hilton had us scheculed in the room until 11:00. As the evening wore on, and all of us being "seniors" (only of a different ilk this time), we began to look at our watches, and several questioned how we were going to keep the party going until 11:00 P.M. Well, we didn't - at 10:00 P.M. we suddenly announced that the party was over - and all who remained sighed with a smile, a huge sigh of relief, and home we all went!
Saturday evening we returned to the comfort and coziness of the Pine Valley Country Club - home of our fiftieth and fifty-fifth gatherings - all bright and beautiful and refreshed from a relaxed full day of rest. Again, we hugged and laughed and drank and ate and rehashed and remembered - and let me just say this here and now - if you think you were not there, YOU ARE WRONG! Your names were invoked, your smiles shone as brightly as any, and you lived among us to celebrate our shiney day under the Dome of North Side High School. We brought you there, and it was wonderful to see you and hear of your adventures through others who have seen and talked with you, and to remember the wonderful and silly things we did as young people. It was a glorious night for ALL of us. Dr. Raymond Beights reminisced with us and we took pictures of those who attended elementary schools together. We had two photographer there, taking photos all evening. It was a truly lovely time. We were all teenagers again for awhile.
It was bittersweet, too - because of course for many it may be the last time we see or speak with one another in this lifetime. But that is the one special realization of the whole weekend - at least for me. How blessed we were to be where we were in our youth, to have experienced the safe life we knew in those days, to have the kind of education we were privileged to have under the direction of our excellent educators. Here we are in our late stages of life, looking back and grateful for those days in our lives in this blessed city and country - surely it was all meant to be as it was, and we are all richer in so many ways for being there.
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