Has It Really Been 35 Years??

One of the things I had been looking forward to during this trip to St. Louis was my 35th high school reunion. I had been in touch with one of the gals on the reunion committee and had mentioned it would be great if it was held while I was in town, even supplying her with the dates that would be bad for me (because I’m sure their schedule would revolve around me! LOL) Fortunately they scheduled it for the evening of Sat., Sept. 19, to be held in the banquet room of Crusoe’s Restaurant not far from our alma mater.
St. Anthony’s was a small all-girls Catholic high school, and at the time I was the token Protestant. Even so I had to attend weekly religion classes and daily mass, and to this day I can still recite all the appropriate responses! There were 96 in our freshman class with a graduating class of 79 (I told you it was small). Reunions have been held every 5 years, but prior to this one I had only attended the 5th and the 20th. From what I hear usually around a third of the class attends, and this year was no exception with 28 in attendance. Tina, Joanne, (both above right) and Teri have done a great job over the years of organizing these events (even though I generally seemed to end up in the “land of the missing alumni” in spite of staying in contact with several of my classmates over the years!)

Russ had decided not to go with me as he did not want to be one of the few lone males in attendance as he was at my 20th. And that worked out for the best as he was given two tickets to attend the Missouri football game in Columbia, MO. Sure, I would love to have gone, but since I was already tied up, he and Steve drove down early that morning, coming home that night. In fact he got home before me!

As it had been 15 years since I had last attended one of the reunions, I was excited and just a little bit nervous. A few friends and I had decided to meet in the restaurant downstairs an hour early to have a drink, a quick bite, and chat before heading upstairs. Due to some miscommunication, only 3 of us showed up but had a nice visit anyway. Once upstairs, all nervousness went by the wayside as Sarah came running over, throwing her arms around me, and telling me she was so glad I came. She had flown in from upstate New York and seemed genuinely thrilled to see everyone who walked through the door.




There was a table near the front of the room with yearbooks, photos, and a graduation program I had brought. My sister had found it among her things and had given it to me when I saw her this summer. I had totally forgotten about it until I went looking for something else the morning of the reunion and ran across it. Draped on a chair next to the table was a class t-shirt and a gym uniform worn by some of our class. This had been one of the “new” uniforms and it was hated nearly as much as the one the rest of us wore. The one I had was more like a little pale yellow dress with attached bloomers. All very flattering…yuck! But thanks to Mary, her contribution to the reunion brought back many memories and laughs.

About an hour after most had arrived, we learned there was to be a trivia game based on our 4 years at St. Anthony’s. Joanne divided us into random groups and began with the first round of 10 questions. Amazing how much we didn’t remember! (One thing I personally found funny was that for the life of me I couldn’t remember the name of our librarian, and I was president of the Library Club senior year!) Even more amazing was that one group actually got 8 out of 10 right on that round! We were then reassigned into new groups for the next round, and then reassigned for the third. The randomness of the groups made it really fun with lots of laughter and gave you a chance to mingle and talk to folks you might not have otherwise. Of course, there were fabulous prizes for the winners…laminated St. Anthony prayer cards and a small St. Joseph medal! Actually everyone else also received these after the game was over.

The reunion had started at 6:30pm and by 9:30, the crowd was starting to thin. But some of us diehards hung around talking until they kicked us out of the banquet room, telling us we could go downstairs to the bar. When Dana and I left at midnight, 4 or 5 were still chatting. Dana had provided a notepad for everyone in attendance to put their contact information, and true to her word, has already supplied us all via e-mail or snail mail. Though our high school closed several years ago, some friendships remained, some have been rekindled, and some new ones are just beginning.

Our time in St. Louis was coming to an end, and one night I stopped by Drew and Linda’s RV to share some wine around their campfire. Russ had just gotten home from a golf tournament and was exhausted, and the other couple who was to attend couldn’t make it at the last minute. Drew and Linda had been helping out at the campground where we were staying, and we struck up a friendship almost immediately especially since their dog, Buddy, became fast friends with Mikey and Abby at the new doggie play area that had been installed this year. It had been raining intermittently but Drew had decided to start the fire anyway and just as it was going good, it started sprinkling again. He went inside to get umbrellas, but the rain came down harder and we ran inside. So instead we sat their rig for a couple hours chatting and sharing wine with Buddy making sure he wasn’t ignored!


The remainder of our time in St. Louis was spent with one more stop at Lombardo’s, one more stop at the San Bar, seeing the new movie Julie & Julia with Patty, going to visit friends, or them stopping by our place.

It was time to head on down the road towards Florida, spending Fri. night in a Lowe’s parking lot in McDonough, GA, and arriving Sat. afternoon at Lake Magic RV Resort in Clermont, FL, just outside Orlando. We carry with us so many wonderful memories of an exceptional summer spent experiencing the wonders of nature and sharing good times with family and friends…times we hope we never forget.