My Venice High class of ’61 just celebrated its 50th class reunion. Amazing! A few interesting statistics:
- There were 119 graduates. First class over 100.
- 13 have died. Not bad.
- 7 are missing. Not bad.
- 33 have been married once for 30-50 years. Wow. That’s got to be a record. Hope they’re happy.
- 9 are divorced now. Hope they’re happy.
- 6 are widows. No widowers.
- 40 classmates attended. Not counting mates. One third.
- 35 classmates still live in the area.
Everyone in attendance was stunned at how quickly the years passed and how we all feel the same inside. As you can see by the statistics we’re a very cohesive group and honor our Florida roots. The Venice area was a wonderful, beautiful and unspoiled place to grow up. Continuing health and happiness to us all.
While attending the reunion I reconnected with several classmates I hardly knew in high school. Too bad for me. Thank goodness we change and grow, and I’m still alive. Benny Walton was one of them. While catching up we found that both of us had written books. Benny’s will be published by the end of the year. It is part of his “Bucket List”, which I’m hoping he’ll categorize here.
Though I don’t have much to regret in my life, I hope I still have lots of room for accomplishing more on my Bucket List. So here goes:
- Writing a memoir of my life including bringing up a deaf child.
- Expanding my consciousness.
- Traveling to Europe to reconnect with my past and experience the grand history there – including France, Italy, Spain, Poland.
- Relearning French and improving Spanish.
- Taking my children and grandchildren on trips of their choice.
- Continuing to volunteer worldwide.
- Although we all must deal with pain and sorrow, being as content and positive as possible.
I challenge anyone reading this to compile his/her own Bucket LIst and post it here. Let’s see what the future holds.
Sounds like a wonderful reunion, I recently met up with a friend who I hadn’t seen since I was 12 years old (30 years ago) and she said she had been clearing out her parents house and found a letter I had written to her when I was 9 or 10 years old. I have no recollection of writing to her, but it was lovely to catch up and I discovered she is a librarian and book reviewer, amazing how life turns out and the joys we discover when we reconnect.
LOVE your bucket list. So much thought of others. I dedicate my life to helping others and so my bucket list looks similar. Volunteer, love fully, say yes, see the positive and expand my consciousness.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Love,
Jodi