To:
The Class of
1961
From: Ted Anderson
August 20, 2006
- Well
classmates, the 45th is
history. Another small slice of a remembrance of things past is over.
Or is it? I don't know, speaking only for myself, during our five-year
reunion interval I am guilty of occasionally dragging out a story that
includes some of your guys. And, when I happen upon one or another of
us, there are the smiles, the "How-are-yous" and perhaps a couple of
"Remember-whens" -- and then we would be off and gone to wherever we
were going. And that's all right. I'm cool with that. I have always
known, that in x number of years, or months, we would all have a
reunion and have an official conglomeration.
- And
last night represented what I call “The Introduction of
the 1961 Class of Franklin High School to Themselves”.
We have become pretty darn good at doing this
– after all, we’ve done it 9 times now (I’m assuming my math is right,
because
my memory sure can't confirm the number!). It
is so very nice to see the familiar faces and be
comfortable in knowing
we are all going to take a set amount of time, and be able to talk,
visit and
reminisce. The informality of the Friday
night at the Willard blends in perfectly with the formality of the
Saturday. But this reunion I could sense
(and again,
I’m speaking just for me) a more determined attempt to connect, a
little longer
eye contact, a more subtle tilting of the head to hear what was being
said, a
slightly tighter hug when we met or were posing for a picture. There seemed to be an unspoken under-scoring
of relevance in who we are, and a deeper search for commonality among
us.
- I
have tried to rationalize this thought by saying it’s
because of my volunteering to take pictures for the class, or the fact
that I
was the emcee, or that I was, however insignificant, a one-time member
of the
(for lack of an official name) “Don & Donna Breakfast Club”. And no doubt, those opportunities did allow
me to draw a perception of “us” at a slightly different angle.
- But
by golly, classmates, none of those reasons have quieted
this restlessness in my head (and heart?). You
know what I think? I
think I
have been attacked by my mortality – or more appropriately, OUR
mortality. I have always recognized that
“we are who we
are”, but I haven’t ever moved to the next level, which is, “we are who
we are,
but not who we’ll be”. Hey, let’s face
it – we aren’t going to have 9 more reunions. And
I suspect (yeah, I know – I oughta been a brain
surgeon!) that each
reunion from here on out will see a sharp rise in “differences” in us,
as a
class and individually.
- So
what does all this mean? For me, it means
a clearer appreciation of who we are. You
know, we really ARE special!! A small
mid-western town bunch of kids who
happen to be born at the same time and grew up together, inter-relating
and
sharing experiences together through our first 18 years of life. We drifted apart after graduation, had
families new friends, jobs, moved to other cities and states. But to me, as our experiences have continued
to expand, they have been diminished and diluted by time.
And as they have become less distinct, it has
become easier to look back on our beginnings and see a recipe of what
we are,
based on what we were. It’s a little
scary to say that I’m me because I knew Jack Fentz 50 years ago – but
perhaps
you get my drift. Which, by the way, I
realize is starting to drift clear off the page – so I’ll settle back
into the
present. I have sorted and edited my
pictures from Don & Donna’s, the Willard and Valle Vista and have
put them
on a CD. I will get with Sharon
and we will figure how best to share them with all of you.
I would be happy to get pictures that any of
you may have, and add them to mine. I
have this idea of putting them altogether for our 50th, and
have
them projected on a screen. I’m sorry to
get all sloppy and gooey in my philosophy in this letter – but I
realize that I
love you guys and all our memories and all that we had.
Talk at you all later!
Sentimentally
yours,
Ted
Anderson
|
STILL
PHOTO TOUR
