Class Dismissed

My most recent column dealt with my 25th high school class reunion.
The planning, the logistics, the event itself, and the day after.
Now the aftermath.
Since we began the planning for this event last fall, the five of us on the planning committee, along with others who helped us out, had worked tirelessly to try and put together the best reunion we could, to ensure that our classmates felt they got their money's worth on Sunday, August 4th.
Now that it's all over, we've been a bit reluctant to break up the party.
Once a month, we managed to set aside a couple hours from our busy lives to discuss planning, which classmates we still had yet to round up, and how we were going to make this year's reunion better than those of years past.
Not an easy task by any means.
But we got through it.
And we set aside time just this past week to have dinner as a group, with a couple of us bringing our spouses along...so they could see that the time we were spending was indeed productive and not just a means of escape where we could drink our wine.
OK, it MIGHT have been that too.
But to a lesser extent.  Trust me on this one.
We discussed the outcome of the reunion, through our own observations.  Which classmates really enjoyed being there, which ones wanted to take part, but for whatever reason, didn't, and even a couple who paid for tickets but didn't make the trip in the end.
And what we did with the leftover desserts.
Here's a hint...some made it into my lunch box the following morning.
It was all part of what seemed at times to be an insurmountable task, but nonetheless, one we managed to overcome.
And we're going to be getting back together again probably in the next month or so.
Hopefully all the checks will have cleared the bank and we can talk about the future.
As long as we don't talk about goodbye.
The final verse of our school's alma mater says it all:

"As the graduating class, we promise to uphold all the standards and ideals that we will never let grow old.  Time has come for us to leave now.  Loving sadness fills our hearts.  Slowly now we turn away, sad but proudly we depart."

Class dismissed.


NEXT WEEK:   Lower Forty