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| L-R: David, Nick,Jaclyn, LynDee |
A class of 320, down to 48
including spouses.
Some classmates wanted to come
but couldn’t at the last minute
Some couldn’t due to their health
Some couldn’t due to their spouses
Some were travelling
and some had died. . . .
A war-worn group gathered for
A last reunion.
We were the survivors
We had all had battles but
were climbing out of the
foxholes of life:
the death of a spouse
the ravages of cancer
caring for someone with dementia.
.
We laughed, we cried, we shared
Sometimes picking up conversations
that were started years ago.
Some wanted music but it
drowned out
those important discussions about life
and survival.
the music was shouted off.
Too many memories in the music
of being young with our futures ahead.
With no more partners,
there were no more last dances.
We gathered in our diminishing circle
of friends we’d created years ago.
Tables of friends who were so happy
gathering around that circle
like Scouts at a campfire,
few tried to circulate.
And then, the last hour of the last night of the last reunion
A few moved cautiously to another table
to re-ignite friendships:
To blow on the embers
of possiblities that might have been.
But as the clock struck 10, we scattered the ashes,
let the fire go out ,
and left
the Firefighters Hall
to go home.
But like Phoenix from the ashes
We went home to our new circle of friends
To live with those warm memories of the past,
Awaiting
The Final Reunion.
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| L-R: Carol, Pat, Ingrid, David, Nick, Jaclyn, LynDee |
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| L-R:Carol, Joan, Ed, Pat, Ingrid |
.jpg) |
| Terry, Vito, Ed |
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| Clockwise: Pat, Gerri, Judy, Terry, Ed |
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| Ed and Ruth |
