Well, I just spent a week in my favorite city and it just wasn't enough. I often wonder if it would have such a hold on me if I lived it on a daily basis. Probably not. I didn't get to The Lake, didn't make it all the way up the Magnificent Mile, spent a whole week there and felt cheated. Got to spend time with Dad, very good, and he very much appreciated it. Spent an evening revisiting my childhood with classmates from the SKS (St. Kieran School) class of '73.
Who in their right minds would bother to take the time to reconnect with their elementary school classmates you ask?! More than half of a class of 57, that's who! We came from nine different states to relive the best days of our childhood. We started the evening with mass in a church building that didn't even exist until more than ten years after we were gone. We honored those who have passed. We told stories, secrets, and probably several tall tales. We passed hour upon hour reminiscing. Astonished that a tale so vividly remembered by one, was totally forgotten by another. Lots of selective remembering and forgetting! Crazy teachers, classroom high jinx, first crushes, slumber parties remembered, playground torments regretted. Acknowledgement that apologies were due to kids not treated terribly well.
Our greatest accomplishment: we grew up. Many with college age children, grandchildren, and even sadly, children lost. Marriages, remarriages, and yes even "partnerships". That wasn't even in the vocabulary back in '73.
We had so much fun, we promised to do it again soon. We really missed those of you that didn't come. You probably weren't the least bit interested, or curious as the rest of us. Or maybe you still felt the sting of hurtful words, childish mistreatments, the loneliness of being different. Its amazing how time heals. Generous hearts recognize the good and forgive the bad. We recognized that the community that we were once a part of, built mostly by the choices of our parents, partly by chance, was for the most part, good. God bless you all, thanks for the memories.
