A Reunion To Remember - Jack Astors

Life consists of routines for the most part. These are different for everybody, and there are deviations, but mostly a fairly consistent and natural order of things. Every now and again though, there are events which represent a life marker, a post which sort of defines where we are and where we came from. For those who attended, the DMCI 50th Anniversary celebration is one of those markers.

There are some who have kept in touch with high school friends in one way or another, but I noticed that many were seeing each other for the first time since an early summer day when lockers were cleaned out for the last time. For many, the graduation formal was the pinnacle of the final year. How many people wound up going somewhere for breakfast and showing up at school in their formal attire from the night before?

So we transcend the years and arrive at 2009 to celebrate the third reunion in the past decade. Between Facebook, websites, and active participation by the committee, we had a good idea who was coming. While some familiar faces were missed: Glenn Greig, Carole Flute, Victor Tolgyessy, Cathy Finley to name a few, there were enough to ensure a good time.

The Friday night event at Jack Astors was terrific. Hooked up with Dave Widdicombe, one of my best friends back in the day and the years melted away quickly. We were joined soon after by Sol Wong, Andy Willison, Les White, Mark Walsh, Willie Liang, Bill Hutton, and Bill Forrest, and the jokes and stories started quickly. The "routines" were discussed; numbers of kids, numbers of marriages, jobs and where we wound up. And other surprises: Rosemary Casson and Morgonn Ewen, Jeff Whittaker, and Diana Gabriel. Unfortunately Kathy Ross showed, but couldn't see past the 60's and 70's crowd at the front and missed us. Kath, look around the corner next time! Great people all.

What did I see? Not a lot of squinting and staring trying to figure out who was who; maybe some facial hair not possible back in the day or less hair overall, lol, but anyone who was worried about looks needn't have. Almost everyone could have jumped out of the yearbook, added some "experience" lines, and we could have been down at the Pit, or downtown at Docs, or over at the Miller. Groups, one on ones, we had it all. And in typical fashion, our group closed the bar.

A great night, and the promise of even better the next day.

Go Your Own Way

The post title relates to the Fleetwood Mac song, one of my all time favourites. I posted a video on FB at the weekend, for a friend who despite wanting to give her his world, was not going to get the love in return. There's some background information which I'm not at liberty to discuss, but knowing my good friend for as long as I've known him, he would have been "the one".

I guess, more than anything else, what I'd like to say is that perfection, in whatever form it takes, is unattainable. The search will never end, and along the way there may be a missed opportunity for something great, something that may never come along again. The lyrics from the song have on a few occasions rung very true in my life, in fact almost embodied, but I take the stance of "their loss" as I have something great and have had it for a very long time.

If there's a moral to any of this, it's take a good look at what you're giving up before you move on. Someone has decided to "go their own way", and it may be a tragic error in the end.

The Magic of Facebook

To say that I am on the cutting edge of information technology would be to say the least, fascinating, to say the most, perjury. No fear in trying new things, but life sometimes keeps you on a mundane, routine road with no time for deviations. Such was the case for Facebook until really the last couple of months. Not knowing much about it except when events relating to it became newsworthy, or in seeing that my eldest daughter had somewhere around 500 friends and about 100+ online at any time, I decided to seek out some friends just to catch up on things. The DMCI 50th anniversary reunion is an event which has also brought some other friends back into my life.

In particular, there has been a small group of friends with whom I've had a 30 year gap of interaction, but within the group, new friends whom I've only known for about 2 months. This small group, through conversations, postings, and e-mails, along with a couple of nights out, have become extremely close, sharing personal issues, a lot of laughs, and camaraderie. From nothing two months ago to this now, mostly due to Facebook, but also due to a great chemistry we share.

There have also been hook ups with other old friends, with roughly the same time gaps, including one from New Brunswick, a best friend from back in the day, and it's been like picking up where we left off. I've also caught up with three friends from Montreal, part of a three day home and away exchange trip 29 years ago. The amazing thing is that we've shared more as a group in the last month or so than we could even possibly have done all those years ago.

It is as if we're transcending time, to some different plane; not of this world, but not of where we came from or even met. We're not the ages we are now, because we are relating to things that have happened prior to today, but we have a level of maturity and personality that is beyond where we've come from. At least there is when I'm not referencing towels, peach outfits, chickens in the breeze, etc.

The ability to be at times more than I can be, or funnier than I may allow myself to be, or more helpful than I can sometimes be, is one of the special aspects of my Facebook experience. The ability to go to "a different solitude" when things get heavy here, even for a little while (and some of you know what I'm talking about) is another aspect of Facebook.

Mostly though, there are special feelings that a number of us are emoting from time to time these days, which are sometimes posted directly in a comment, or just noted in the writing style. While I'll never get to 500 friends, I'll never trade quantity for the quality of the friends I have. This quality, above all else, is the magic of Facebook.

A Season of Reunions

The time is late and my thoughts have turned to the 50th anniversary of DMCI, the reunion for which is in just two weeks. In some respects, the numbers seem disappointing; estimates of attendance of my graduating year seem to be in the 20's, but hopefully I'm wrong. In any event, it was great to get in touch with another friend from back in the day, Kathy, this week.

Reunions, new friends, and old friends, that has been the theme over the last couple of months. With many things in utter turmoil in my life, the arrival of so many into my atmosphere has brought a fresh, lightly scented breeze, and has made things more than bearable. Whether directly from high school, or university, or a French exchange trip, or even brand new, there are friends who have made an indelible mark on my soul, and it is something that cannot be removed.

...you know who you are, and thank you...

Music as a Mood Trigger

As I've spent time this evening setting up the various backgrounds of the blog page, it occurred to me how powerful music has been for me lately, as a background to different feelings I've had.

While the infectious fun of Sass Jordan's "Tell Somebody" put me in a good mood on the way home, which many songs have done for the commute, I've really noticed the power that some songs have when I think of others. Music which I haven't heard in literally decades, still belong to someone in my mind. Even now, my posse, and the "Foxy Posse" have certain songs that I think will always belong to them when I hear them.

It's great in some respects, and a burden in others. Nevertheless, an emotional pull most of the time.

Something New

Another first for me, my first blog. I have no idea where this is going, how often I'll get on, or the breadth of content, but we'll see what a warm wind blowing the stars around produces.

I'd imagine this will be filled with random thoughts, feelings, stories, political commentary and current events, humour, whatever!

We'll give it a shot!