Only One Thing Missing!
Greg and Beverly Wise
In a recent trip North to celebrate my Jimtown High School – 50th Class Reunion in Elkhart, Indiana, there was only one thing missing about this trip… Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle, USMC) singing “Back Home Again… in Indiana.” There isn’t anyone that sings that song better for the opening of the Indianapolis 500… than Jim Nabors, all starting in the same year… 1972.
You realize that you are going to exchange stories… maybe see old flames… even meet people that you didn’t really care about or like for that matter when you graduated… but then you must face them 50 years later.
Then the first task came, when the gauntlet was placed on playing a round of golf for Saturday morning at one of their new local golf courses with the 4-letterman from my high school golf team. So, that wouldn’t be so bad, except it ended up being 54 degrees that morning at Bent Oak Golf Club, 2 of them showed up in shorts and it took me about 6 holes to warm up and get my jacket off. Lucky for me… the other letterman hadn’t really played that much golf and I was holding my own and moving ahead quit quickly.
The stories started flowing very quickly on the front nine and it was like the sarcasm had never stopped from high school. The only thing better about the sarcasm…. is that we all had some new material to use on each other. The day ended and we were still all friends… nothing could be better, and all agreed to do it again.
So… 50 years later, you have a little bit of apprehension about going to a party and seeing people that you haven’t even talked to in the past… well, in many cases 50 years. But in hindsight… you owe it to yourself and others, when that time comes up, you must go. Okay… I was fighting and kicking all the way into the room. Would I know anyone? Would they recognize me? Would I feel uncomfortable?
Dressed like I was… I went into the room on fire, ready to take on the world. The first person I saw said… “what is your name? … okay… just kidding!” We were all friends and the stories started in very quickly. I was hugged by a lot of people that obviously knew me… and I had to back off just a little… focus my eyes on the name tag and respond with a second hug… Marilyn… it’s you! But… then there the stories that would convict me if there wasn’t for a statute of limitations in place in Indiana on the theft of watermelons.
Let’s give me a chance to recover before having another “Class Reunion” Maybe that 60-year mark would be the next special one and the “Golf Letterman” would have a chance to practice, and I agree… we should play from the senior tees next time.
