30

While I wish I could say it was my 30th birthday that would not be the truth. Today is the Schafer High School Class of 1975 High School Reunion. It has been just over 30 years ago that we all gathered for the last time before heading off in our own direction. Sure we have had reunions before but it is never the same and you never have everyone there.

Alma Mater

Here’s to our dear ol’ Schafer.
Here’s to our high school days.
Sing out the good ol’ song boys;
Sing out the good old yeas.
Here’s to our comrades all, boys.
Loyal we’ll be always.
Here’s to our dear ol’ Schafer.
Here’s to our high school days.

I had a lot of things to try and get done. Everything was not perfect but I managed to pull everything together. I stopped by my friends house for a while and then we headed in to the reunion together just a little late.

Upon arrival it was at a nice place. We were greeted by Sue. She took my friend and his leader dog over to get checked in, get a picture taken be all ready to go take a seat. I worked my way through, got squared away with the money, half listened to the instructions, checked the coat, took the picture and decided to spring for the book they were building and joined my friend to go get a seat. All the while we were bumping into people and, oh my, yet another fun memory as you recognize yet another person.

You know it is funny. We all changed a fair amount, it just happens. People have put on a little weight, lost a little hair, have a few more wrinkles ... they are all beautiful and have not changed one bit. They were everything I remember only most now have a spouse, children and in some case, even grand children. There are the most interesting jobs and so much more.

We took our seats. There was a quick into by one of the hosts and table by table we were called up to partake in a nice buffet style dinner. My luck, we were about the last table to be called up. Taking just a little bit of each item the plate was more than over flowing and then there was the salad. The food was delicious and the desert was a nice finish.

The bar was open the whole time. The flavor for the night was RUM, at least for me. I had a few drinks through out the evening but never to much. First drinking and driving, not good but also I was not only responsible for me but also my friend. The funny thing is he only drank pop. To bad we could not have made him the designated driver but the state seems to frown on people that can not see, driving.

They had a few fun things. We started things with singing the fight song.

Schafer Fight Song

Viking men are fighting.
In black and gold they fight for Schafer.
Viking Men are bold.
They fight for glory and for honor.
So stand up and cheer
Stand up and cheer for Schafer High.
Go, Vikings, Go...
Go, Black and Gold ...
And let us raise out colors high.

I remembered most of the words. What a fun feeling inside. We moved on to the game. We each had a puzzle piece that was half a one of the teachers. It turns out mine was Mr Krapco, the drama teacher. I never had him so I was a little slow coming up with who he was.

Next they called up the homecoming queen and the Sadie Hawkens king to start out the dancing. Although people had fun on the dance floor it came and went in spurts. For the most part, however, there was not a lot of dancing going on. Everyone was to busy catching up.

It was fun, the jocks were hanging out by the open bar and it was interesting seeing them all turn back into the people there were back in high school. They were jumping on each other, high fiving, getting load and having a great time reliving high school. Some old clicks were revived, plenty of imbibing going on too. It was amazing how fast the evening went.

They kept breaking in with various different little things. They brought the people voted best dancers up for a dance. They had prize drawings. They had a large card to be filled out for a class mate who could not attend. It is a shame. When I heard she might come I was so excited, now it was just sad she was not there. She was always a fragile girl and after graduation her kidneys, which were being attacked by a hereditary disease, eventually both ended up being removed and she went through a transplant. There were problems and she rejected it. She was on dialysis for some time. That was a trying time and she almost died many times over. Eventually she had another transplant and it took. I lost touch with her other than she now lives in New Mexico I believe. Well her kidney started to fail as transplants only last so long. Usually a kidney only lasts 10 years but she had gone 15 years. Luckily she found a donor and had another transplant but once again she has been in and out of hospitals over a few month period and there is just no way she could come. I will be writing her and sharing what I can about the reunion. I sure hope all goes well for her. She is one of the true “good ones.”

Well I never took the dance floor but I did take the opportunity to take some fun pictures. Once again I recognized the high schooler in all coming out and that was so fun.

I had talks with a bunch of old friends and caught up with things. I must admit this was every bit as much fun as I wanted it to be. It was more fun than the first one where I pretty much didn’t do a whole lot of wandering about and just talked a fair amount with who I came with.

The one thing, however that made it all worth while... My one friend I had hoped to find at the first reunion was there. We met up and I found out he was hoping I would be there also. I really enjoyed him a lot in high school. Neither one of us really were part of any of the “in crowds” and the friendship was great. The one thing I learned that made my day is why he wanted to meet me.
It turns out I helped him in math and he was very appreciative and he never forgot about it. I was blown away. This is something I really had dismissed. I will do something for people anytime. I love to do that. It is no big deal other than the good feeling it gives me inside. So here we have it, proof. Proof that the smallest things you do for someone are sometimes really big to them. You just never know how you touch other peoples lives. This one moment made my entire evening.

I also met up with another person that had not been to the first reunion. The person I had a crush on in 10 grade and ended up getting shot down in flames. She was every bit as fantastic as she was back then. She is a professor in Colorado and is doing well. She travels and, well you name it, she has had a fun life. It was exciting to talk with her and catch up.

I caught up with three friends that used to live on the same block as I did. Each were doing super in their own way. A little later I was approached by my friend. We had lost touch but had just caught up as he was one of my close friends from my block that I grew up with. He invited me to an afterglow. Later I found out it was a much larger event than I thought it was but I still felt good that he would invite me.

Well this has been way to long but lets bring it to a close. The last dance was at 12:00 and the doors were closing at 12:30. I took my friend home as he was did not want to go to the afterglow. He is not much into a party. I then headed back to the afterglow at my friends condo. When I pulled up I realized how large it was. The condo was filled with people, some of which we never hung around with. It was nice. My friend saw me and ended up making a drink for me called a hummingbird keeping the RUM theme going. I got to talk a lot more with people including several of the spouses and I had an even better night than before. Emails addresses were exchanged and at 0430 hours in the morning it was time to call it a day.

For a day I kind of dreaded coming, it is one I will not soon forget. I will be staying in touch many people from that night. With email there is no excuse not to.


“Goooooooood morning Vietnam! It's 0600 hours. What does the "O" stand for? O my God, it's early!” - Good Morning Vietnam