Monday, November 14, 2005
MAY....1999
On the 7th of May, Becky and I drove to Springfield to pick my sister-in-law, Gail, up at the airport. She had an afternoon flight so we drove on home and fixed a pizza supper………then gabbed until way into the night. We had five days of shopping, visiting and gadding, and then I drove her back to the airport for her return flight home. Our visits are quite different now, with mom, dad, Louis and Bear…..all gone.
The next day I had an early breakfast meeting with the other ‘49ers in Mountain Grove. It was our last meeting before the 50th Reunion on the 29th. My job was to paint small rocks with gold paint to put at each place on the table. Our class logo had been the little ‘49er with his mule, picking for gold. We were all looking forward to the final day of the dinner because we knew more classmates all around the country were going to make the effort to come back for the special occasion.
I spent a lot of time in my flowers and yard, fertilizing, watering, mulching and all that goes into landscaping. Jonathan and a couple of his buddies and some of the men from the power company came one Saturday and cut out quite a few trees for me that were not shaped nicely or were too crowded. It was a hard days work but they had a chipper and a bucket truck so the did a lot in a short amount of time. It certainly opened up the yard.
My birthday is always something I look forward to because of the cards, letters, and phone calls etc; received from family and friends. It was a beautiful day. I recorded in my diary that the sky was a deep blue with big puffy, white clouds. I wondered where the 67-years disappeared to…….in a way it seemed fast but when I reflected on all that’s happened in the years between it was amazing how all of that was packed into the few years it represented.
A classmate of mine, Don Rockenbach, called to find out the time of the Class Reunion. He lived across the State, near the Oklahoma and Arkansas borders and had driven home especially to attend the class function. Don had mostly driven over-the-road all those years for companies and in later years, independently with his own truck. He had a farm and still loved animals as he did when we were in school together…..he had a menagerie on his farm.
I went early the next day to deliver the brownies I made for the lunch at noon and to put the gold pieces at each plate for the evening meal. It was wonderful to see so many of the classmates who hadn’t come back at other reunion times. There was lots of hugging and laughing and pure joy as old times were remembered and also because it was funny to see how some of us turned out in our “old age.” Sadly, some were on walkers, had many surgeries behind them, some were battling cancer and other debilitating diseases……..a few looked great and much like they used to. It was a wonderful day of reliving the good times and promising to keep in touch.
Out of a class of 72, we counted only 10-who were deceased. I think for 50-years, that was a pretty good ratio. We had 43-attending the dinner. Our class had always been very close and a lot of effort went into getting back for the festivities. One of the highlights for all of us was the tour to our school. Of course it had changed a lot in 50-years. We rode from the home where we had lunch to the school in a school bus. It was a riot……..it brought the “kid” out in all of us and it was “back to the future” time.
I helped Norman, our Class President, by delivering all of the prizes around to the winners as he called their names and told how they earned them. It was much like a “roast” as the winners received their prize for some goof-up they produced back in school days. It was good natured fun and we spent the evening laughing at ourselves and each other.
“Fifty years ago“ where have the years gone? ……..I remember sitting in Reunions in the school gyms at other times, looking at the elder statesmen of years ago, thinking………. “Boy!! Those folks are really old.” Now I was sitting in the oldest group along with my classmates. Time has a way of slipping by……even for us.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
The next day I had an early breakfast meeting with the other ‘49ers in Mountain Grove. It was our last meeting before the 50th Reunion on the 29th. My job was to paint small rocks with gold paint to put at each place on the table. Our class logo had been the little ‘49er with his mule, picking for gold. We were all looking forward to the final day of the dinner because we knew more classmates all around the country were going to make the effort to come back for the special occasion.
I spent a lot of time in my flowers and yard, fertilizing, watering, mulching and all that goes into landscaping. Jonathan and a couple of his buddies and some of the men from the power company came one Saturday and cut out quite a few trees for me that were not shaped nicely or were too crowded. It was a hard days work but they had a chipper and a bucket truck so the did a lot in a short amount of time. It certainly opened up the yard.
My birthday is always something I look forward to because of the cards, letters, and phone calls etc; received from family and friends. It was a beautiful day. I recorded in my diary that the sky was a deep blue with big puffy, white clouds. I wondered where the 67-years disappeared to…….in a way it seemed fast but when I reflected on all that’s happened in the years between it was amazing how all of that was packed into the few years it represented.
A classmate of mine, Don Rockenbach, called to find out the time of the Class Reunion. He lived across the State, near the Oklahoma and Arkansas borders and had driven home especially to attend the class function. Don had mostly driven over-the-road all those years for companies and in later years, independently with his own truck. He had a farm and still loved animals as he did when we were in school together…..he had a menagerie on his farm.
I went early the next day to deliver the brownies I made for the lunch at noon and to put the gold pieces at each plate for the evening meal. It was wonderful to see so many of the classmates who hadn’t come back at other reunion times. There was lots of hugging and laughing and pure joy as old times were remembered and also because it was funny to see how some of us turned out in our “old age.” Sadly, some were on walkers, had many surgeries behind them, some were battling cancer and other debilitating diseases……..a few looked great and much like they used to. It was a wonderful day of reliving the good times and promising to keep in touch.
Out of a class of 72, we counted only 10-who were deceased. I think for 50-years, that was a pretty good ratio. We had 43-attending the dinner. Our class had always been very close and a lot of effort went into getting back for the festivities. One of the highlights for all of us was the tour to our school. Of course it had changed a lot in 50-years. We rode from the home where we had lunch to the school in a school bus. It was a riot……..it brought the “kid” out in all of us and it was “back to the future” time.
I helped Norman, our Class President, by delivering all of the prizes around to the winners as he called their names and told how they earned them. It was much like a “roast” as the winners received their prize for some goof-up they produced back in school days. It was good natured fun and we spent the evening laughing at ourselves and each other.
“Fifty years ago“ where have the years gone? ……..I remember sitting in Reunions in the school gyms at other times, looking at the elder statesmen of years ago, thinking………. “Boy!! Those folks are really old.” Now I was sitting in the oldest group along with my classmates. Time has a way of slipping by……even for us.
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
