Jake’s 50th high school reunion

I made peace on our graduation night with a little pipsqueak classmate whom I had to slap the hell out of a few times for his smart mouth. He was to my knowledge the first in my class to pass away nine years later due to cancer.

 

My first real rock show (as in not in the HS gym) was Deep Purple on the "Machine Head" tour. That song was still new.

 

My 50th will be in '24. The only one I've gone to so far was 40. I'm a little fatter but I kept my hair, so I'm ahead of the game.

 

Went to my 20th. Was reminded that I only liked about 50 people in my graduating class of over 300, and several of those people had already died.

 

We were supposed to have our 25th over the holiday. We had ~40 in our class and maybe 10-15 had interest in attending. We needed 50, including spouses, to make it happen.

Also envious of Mr. Corner for still having his hair. Got any I can borrow?

 

I went to my 5th, too close to HS, still a lot of HS preening.

Went to my 15th, still a lot of HS preening.

My 40th was last year and no, you can preen without me.

As you can tell, HS was not the greatest for a 115lb wrestler still waiting to fill out who was Asian amongst the pickups and gun racks.

 

I went to my Dad's 25th reunion at Harvard when I was a kid and it was beyond fantastic. I stayed in Dunster House, alone, but was too scared to sleep. I went out to the quad where guys were playing soccer by streetlight. They put me in the game and let me score a goal, and carried me off the field on their shoulders. The kids got a trip to Fenway, and the beach. I palled around with another kid and we wandered into a band practice room where we hung out for hours, to the point where no one knew where we were. I remember a big picnic, lots of big tents, and hundreds of people from different classes. One of the great weekends of my life.

I have never been to any other reunion.

 

"I don't always always attend reunions, but when I do, I prefer Harvard's. Veritas, my friends."