Has It Really Been That Long?

  

Now And Then

I received an appalling letter in the mail today. It was from the committee organizing my high school's fortieth class reunion. That's right, we are celebrating the "Big 4-0" as they are so kind to point out on their website. I am not going to go, of course. My high school is on the other side of the country from here, and I do believe that it has been, let's see, forty years since I've seen any of those people, so I doubt that there's going to be a lot of people asking "where's Bernie?" It is another testament to the power of the internet that they even found my address. My entire family moved out of town shortly after I did, so it wasn't like they could just bop on over and ask Mom where I was.

I pulled out my yearbook, which I have indeed kept all these years, and checked to see if I knew any of the reunion committee. I knew one of them, although he and I definitely did not travel in the same circles. He came from one of the wealthy families and was one of the "power elite" of the school. He's an attorney now and v.p. of some company back there, so we would still not have much in common. I hope he remained a nice guy. There were over six hundred in my graduating class. I knew only a handful. I had used my high school years to hone the antisocial skills that I have successfully used throughout my adult life.

Now and then, I do wonder what may have happened to some of the kids I knew. I doubt that they are kids anymore having graduated from high school forty years ago.

Has it really been that long?