August 1, 2014

Let the Class of 1964 50th Reunion Begin!

Brownsville High School Eagles

August 1, 2014

"Grandma, not another picture!"

The day started with both of us oversleeping.  Lately Ron has been the first one up - a change from the past 20 years or so.  This morning I woke at 7:30 and realized he was still not up.  As I often say, "Yikes!"  He hurried to get ready and I started getting myself ready since I knew he had an appointment for a job at a particular time this morning.

I had not been at the office long when a high school classmate, Helen Clark Martin arrived for a visit along with a friend of hers.  We had a delightful visit and it was so good to see them.  Helen is in town for our 50th reunion.  As one lady said tonight, "How can it be our 50th reunion if I am only 49 years old?"  Sounds good to me.

Ron took my car to have the dash board lights fixed that went out when I started to drive home from Jeff's late last night.  Then he left on jobs for the rest of the day.  I worked on the statements for our customers and assorted other end-of-the-month bookkeeping chores.  Ron got back in time to pick up my car and then let me leave to go take care of our grandchildren until our son got home.  

When I arrived at their house,the two youngest were napping so I got snacks for the other three.  They all played quietly allowing long naps for the two little ones.  They had played hard and been up late the night before and then had attended a Vacation Bible School at a church near their house.  That VBS included swimming which I have always felt leaves you exhausted and hungry.

When the two little ones got up I got their snacks and the three older went out to play baseball in the backyard.  They didn't want the little ones out there so after their snacks I took them to the front yard to play kickball. 

I joined in the game and managed to kick one right between my grandson's legs.  I would have loved a photo of his shocked face when I did that.  Mine may have also had a shocked look.  We played until he decided we were tied and I decided that was a good time to stop.  I checked my cell phone about that time for the temperature.  It was 97 degrees and it said, "feels like 109."  It was time to go in!  We cooled off and then set the table for supper, fixed the drinks and waited for my son to show up with pizzas.

It was 7:00 when Jeff got home and I hurried out the door to go get ready for the reunion mixer for the evening.  He did tell me a great story as I gathered my things.  H.E.B. was having a grand opening for a new store today in McAllen.  They decided to honor the local firefighters at the event.  Recently the McAllen firefighters were on Good Morning, America! to participate in a competition with other units and they ended up winning.  The prize was $10,000 to the charity of their choice.  H.E.B. had set up a competition based on the one at Good Morning, America!  Some of the store officials were the opposing team against the McAllen firefighters.  It came to the end with a tie and the last question was something to the effect, "What Texas city's firefighters received a check today for $10,000?"  The McAllen team had no idea, but with some prompting, guessed, "McAllen?"  Yes!  They gave them a check for $10,000 to use as they wanted for the fire department, not for charity.  What a nice gift.

One of the first friends I saw was Nancy.  Nancy lived just a block from my grandmother and we spent a lot of time together during our elementary school years especially.  Behind her in the yellow sweater is Carrie Beth.  Carrie Beth was in band with me so we spent a lot of time together during the upper grades of school. 

Once home from our son's house and baby-sitting, I jumped in the shower and got ready.  We were about an hour late, but still had lots of time to visit and ended up almost being swept out by the workers since we were visiting for so long.  There were many I did not recognize at the reunion and of course that is common since about 1/2 were spouses who may or may not have been from our school.  But many classmates were hard to recognize. 

Darlene, Lynda, and I had some nice long chats.  So much catching up to do!

Ron and Tom (Becky's husband) chatting 

My friend Becky and her husband were there and late in the evening we got together and talked.  They are the reason we had to be swept out of the place as the staff tried to set up for the next event.  Becky and her husband Tom may say it was our fault.  I guess it was a two way thing.  We were having a wonderful time talking. 

Jerry is one classmate I have gotten to know better on Facebook and I admire him for his strong commitment to mission work in our area and beyond.

Ray and his wife

Most of my photos were not very good - too dark - so I will try again tomorrow.  One man I had not seen since graduation was Ray.  He lived a block from my house.  What a fun group we had in the neighborhood!  He set me straight on two people I had mixed up in my mind.  Thanks, Ray!

My friend Helen who had come by the office was there and we chatted briefly.  We will be getting together some more tomorrow to chat more.

It is funny how some of the friends you can pick up with right away and others you don't know what to discuss with them.  Most were very friendly and all seemed very glad they had come and sorry that not everyone was there.

Hearing was a huge challenge!  The room was filled with chatter.  Two people I tried to talk to had very soft voices and I missed most of what they said.  Others talked fast.  When I met Becky's husband, we immediately hit it off.  He has a good friend with a Cochlear Implant and he was able to give me some suggestions on using mine.  He himself has little or no hearing in one ear so he understood my challenges and spoke slowly and clearly.  It was so helpful.  He was a delightful man and Ron and I both thoroughly enjoyed time with him.