TO ALL OF US WHO SURVIVED....

As we prepare for our upcoming reunion, I tend to reflect on the past and look at all the wonderful things that happened through my many years on this earth. I feel nostalgia is the best remedy for almost anything that ails me these days! As I have seen and gotten together with a few old school friends, old neighborhood bullies and visits with aging parents of friends this past year, I reflect on the "good old days". Not every part of my life has been all peaches and cream, but it's wonderful to get together to bring back memories of those days, see those friends I haven't seen in 40 years, have a good laugh about something someone did, or even shed a tear about a sad moment we remembered....

I received the below email, which I feel is pretty appropriate timing for our upcoming reunion. I hope each and every one of you will make every effort to attend our 40th reunion on August 8 so we can catch up with each others lives, reflect on the past and look to the future..... perhaps cry a little, but most certainly laugh a lot!....Laughter is good for the heart and soul, so I try to do it as often as possible!

New Jr. High photos will be coming soon, so please check back in a few days. I am looking forward to seeing you all in a couple months!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930's, 40's AND 50's First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air-bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose, not from a bottle.We shared one soft drink with four friends from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight.

WHY?

Because we were always outside playing....that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on, or when we were called to come in because it was too dark outside.

No one was able to reach us all day...And, we were OK.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Play Stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet and no chat rooms.

We had friends and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We made mud pies from dirt, we ate worms and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door, rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment....Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

Those 30 years were an explosion of innovation and new ideas……AHHH!!!....The good old days!

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

WE ARE the lucky ones and we made it! CONGRATULATIONS!