As spring began to arrive in central Texas (a beautiful time of year here), I took a good look at the calendar and realized: It's time.
In this case, it's time to begin planning for the Phillipsburg High School Class of 1977 35th year reunion, in 2012.
For whatever it's worth, I was class president, so I think I have at least a smidgen of responsibility to gather our 85 classmates and see how things are going as we enter the fabulous 50s of our lives. And, sadly, our class wasn't very good about organizing the 25th and 30th year reunions. As in, they didn't happen.
Also sadly, we are depleted by 9 members. Over 10% of our class has passed on before age 50 - a combination of accidents, illness, and (I suspect) the harder life on the Plains as compared to the bigger cities where about half of us have migrated. By harder life, I mean harder work, harder drinking, smoking, and such.
Our last organized reunion was the 20th year, in 1997, and it was a blast. We spent Labor Day weekend catching up and basking in the wonder of life in our late 30s, when family building was in full swing for many and careers were tracking along to dreams imagined. I'm sure all high school classes think they're special, but for Pburg's class of '77, it feels even more real. Huge numbers of our small class ended up in education and training, a tribute to the fantastic Pburg school system. We have bankers, VPs and PhDs galore. We're pretty proud.
Now at the 35-year mark, we're of course beginning to see how the road ahead may not be quite so long as the road behind, and many of us are at or near our peak of career aspirations. Some are thinking about, or already basking in, retirement. Many of our families include sons and daughters just now graduating, or celebrating their 5th year reunion. Funny how the cycle goes.
I've been in contact with a few of our class and the enthusiasm is strong right out of the gate. Looks like Labor Day weekend 2012 will be our time to descend on Pburg and whoop it up like it's 1977. The biggest issues aren't about whether we'll be there - over half the class has already responded positively - it's where we'll all stay! Phillipsburg has perhaps 40 hotel rooms in the "city," and those who are familiar with Rodeo weekend know that every room and relatives' bedroom in town fills quickly for any significant event.
We're also hoping to invite the teachers to whom we owe so much, and we'll welcome any of our chronologically close classmates to come say hello as well. One of the many benefits of having grown up on the Plains instead of in XYZ South High School with a class of 2,000 is that we all know each other, and we all care about each other. We got to have high school the way it should be for everyone.
So, we've got a dinner to plan; perhaps a movie night at the recently restored Majestic Theatre; a tour of the old stomping grounds; and most importantly, time to catch up and laugh with all the people who shaped us as the adults we are today.
Can't wait!
