Mom On the Alert

Calls to Friends and Classmates

Having promised myself that I would not sit at the computer today before accomplishing some tasks that I had been putting off, I succumbed after receiving a call from an old friend from High School. Most of yesterday afternoon and evening was spent leaving messages on the answering machines of classmates.

At first, I was still concentrating on just leaving messages for people that I had some information lived in our section of town. I’m still trying to secure a back-up rides home from the reunion event, since Pete will be in Ghana. After a bit, I started leaving messages of the homes of other people with whom I was once friends, or in some other way had a connection. My thinking was that the reunion would sure be more fun if I found some old pals, and renewed acquaintances before the actual date. I left LOTS of messages.

After a while, I started feeling some of those old feelings of angst that are remembered so well from High School. After all these years, I thought they had disappeared. You know, those feelings one feels when one questions if you had fit in. Were you in or were you out? How were you viewed by others? How do you compare to them? Will anyone even remember you? Had you burned bridges with thoughtless behavior hardly remembered?

Like a turtle, I continued to stick my head out. Testing the conditions, before I pulled it back into my safe little home. Finally quitting, I immersed myself in some mindless TV watching. Soon, the phone rang. It was a return call from a classmate I didn’t know very well. I had felt a need to call her because she had touched the life of a beautiful woman I met many years later. I wanted to let her know about our mutual friend, who had left this life in 1997. The classmate that called didn’t really remember me, but it was wonderful talking with her. She hadn’t planned on attending the reunion, but is now reconsidering doing so. At the end of the conversation we vowed to keep in touch. She is someone I would really like to know better.

This morning, the phone rang again. It was a call from a High School friend whom I have not seen in more than 40 years. She remembered me! And, she is still in touch with several people that we did hang with. We talked a very short time, but she seems every bit as wonderful as I remember her. She asked me to send her an e-mail summing up my life in the last 45 years. Actually, those were not her exact words. I referred her to this site, but don’t know if that will answer her questions. I have not accomplished any notable deeds, nor have I lived an unusual life. So what can I say? Never the less, I feel satisfied with the life I have led, and feel lucky to be where I am at this moment in time. I can’t wait to talk with her again. Meanwhile, I will have to think up a bio I can share.