BFF

It's fun to attend high school reunions.  I haven't missed any of the 6 we've had.  Here are my conclusions about them.

Number 1--it's good to see old friends.  A few last weekend I hadn't seen since high school.  It gives stability in some strange kind of way. And you certainly never know when or if you'll ever make contact with them again on this side of the grass.  Well, saying that, I guess there'll be no contact on the other side of the grass, so I'll amend it to there'll be no contact until we meet in Heaven.

Number 2--some friends change in appearance more than others.  Obviously.  Besides the excess weight, kudos to those who kept it off and there were some, hair color differentiated from none to gray/white to partial gray/white to funky orange/red, and of course to the obligatory shoe polish jet black.  If there were toupees, they were very good.

Number 3--some party more; some party less.   It seems for some that the informal activities or after-hour activities are much more important than the Friday and Saturday night programs.  Select bars were chosen according to the invites I received, but by 10 0'clock each night, I was ready for beddy bye having already exceeded my bedtime by half an hour.  So, yes, I am a party-less guy.

Number 4--there are freaks at reunions.  One kind is the ones who haven't changed much at all in appearance.  Maybe some dye and/or botox, who knows.  But for at least half a dozen, the years have been kind.  Some look better than they did in high school.  Not many to be sure,  but some late bloomers, well bloomed.  The biggest freak at our 45th reunion was a classmate who had a three year-old, nearly four, but still.  And his wife who is 30 years younger wants more children.

Number 5--cliques are more disguised.  Up until this reunion, they still existed.  From what I hear, most have dissolved at 20-year reunions, but not our class.  Then I got to thinking, maybe why I thought they didn't seem so prevalent is that the cliquish didn't show for this one.  Oh well.

Any gleaning from my observations?  I doubt that there's anything too substantial in this entry.  So I'll leave you with this suggestion.  Go to as many as you can.  Out of our graduating class of 395, nearly 60 have passed away including one the weekend before and another the Wednesday afterwards.  As a friend of mine from another class ('65) said, "When I hear of one of my classmates' passing, I think to myself that the line is getting shorter."

SO WHO AM I?

In the days of President Nixon when he opened China, at least when he opened talks with China, he met Chairman Mao who was in declining health.  Mao had been schooled on a few English expressions to use, but he failed badly.

Upon meeting Mr. Nixon he was supposed to say, "How are you?"  Instead he uttered, "Who are you?"  His follow up was supposed to be, "How do you do?"  Mao said, "What do you do?"

As bad as that may seem, they really are good questions that could be posed to almost anyone.  In fact, they're pretty good self-analysis questions. 

We live in a world that constantly addresses these key questions.  Just think of the number of books predicated on each.  The number of philosophies centered around both.

The utter satisfaction with ourselves depends on our answers for the most part.  From "I'm just a girl who cain't say 'No'" to "I'm Nobody/Who are you?"  At least those two had an idea.

I wonder how Nixon answered Mao.  But more importantly, I wonder how I would answer each question.