“Maybe one day I can have a reunion with myself.”
– Sebastian Bach
No, it’s not often that I quote the lead singer from Skid Row, but as I head off next week for the 35th Reunion of the Fairfield (IA) High School Class of 1980, I’ve been thinking a lot about what reunions are and what they should be. 35th reunion! Man, if you do the math, well, don’t do the math…
I am looking forward to staying with my sister and brother-in-law, checking out the farm and seeing LJ, Crilly, Doc, Hutch, Special Ed, Clunker, Wellsy, Ledge, Sky, Tommy Trojan and the other 60 or so of our original class of 190-something members who will be there.
Facebook® has already allowed us to see pictures of the kids, and (YIKES!) grandkids and to know whether ol’ so and so in Pocatello liked their dinner last night. More than ever, especially in this connected, social media frenzied time, the point of a reunion is to be together with people you miss.
At work, we’re in meetings a lot. We’re on conference calls a lot. We’re on WebEx® a lot. We’re on airplanes and e-mail chains a lot. We’re not together enough. So, every time we leave a meeting, a conference call or a WebEx®, it’s too easy to just go on to whatever meeting or conference call is next on the calendar without checking the fuel tank to see how much of us is left.
It’s especially true when you look around and some are missing. We’ll raise our glasses (multiple times — it’s what we do and we’re very, very good at it!) to Garry “Skeeter” Higgins, one of the close circle of friends who died tragically as the result of a work accident a few weeks ago. His wife, Linn, will be with us, not because she’s a member of The Class of 1980, but because she is, as Skeeter’s wife (widow? Dammit!), a member of the family.
I’ll arrive in Iowa on Wednesday with some of me intact. When I leave Fairfield, IA to head back to The ATX, I’ll bring more of me back than I arrived with. This trip will be especially re-charging. I’ll be with the guys I grew up with (to whatever degree we’ve grown up…it is a low bar…). I’ll remember that even though the hair is thinner and grayer, and even though the waist size is larger, that we’re a part of each other, and I’ll enjoy that reunion of souls that comes from the reunion of classmates.
The greatest gifts we can give one another are parts of ourselves. Friday and Saturday on the golf course, and Thursday through Saturday nights at the social events, we’ll be more of who we were in simpler times, and we’ll benefit from how much it meant to be together during formative years. And, hopefully, we’ll keep that in mind when we all settle back in to work the next week.
Reunions. Being together. Being more of ourselves, and giving of that to those who complete the circle. Let’s give parts of ourselves to each other, and get deeper than the conference calls and meetings. Let’s take the larger “us” and apply it, not only to the tasks at hand, but to the camaraderie and cohesion of our calling.
Reprised from a 2010 post
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