Running (Trails & Road) 48:00 [3]
Ran from my parents' place in Brantford along the waterfront trails, then across the Grand River into the edge of Brant Park, then back again. Beautiful day, great trails. 'Bent and I will need to bring our bikes here some time.
Note
I went to the high school reunion today, and it was better than I'd expected. It's a full weekend deal, but I just spent a couple of hours that included the "Meet the Teacher" session. We could also visit "Decade Rooms" where there were photos of the teachers from each decade, samples of clothing from the era, school jackets, athletic logos, theatre programs, commencement programs, etc. - even three trophies with my name on them. Trivia question: the trophies were all for the same thing. What was it?
The most crowded place in each Decade Room was the large piece of paper where visitors were invited to write down names of graduates from that decade who have died. It was sobering to see names I hadn't known about and to be reminded of three friends I missed very much today.
I met up with about 8 students from my graduating year (of 140), and it wasn't that difficult to recognize them - not that I didn't check their name tags to be safe. I think everyone approached it with the same attitude that I did. Nobody in our class brought their spouse, and everyone was restrained in presenting their life summaries - not a hint of boasting or one-upmanship. By choosing to attend the "Meet The Teacher" afternoon instead of the Pub Night or some other activity, I'm sure I met a particular subset of past classmates - probably sympathetic to the geeky side of life, like me. I didn't see any cheerleaders, football heroes or beauty queens (and there used to be a LOT of beauty contests).
The one disappointment was that there weren't many of my teachers to meet. I talked to exactly two of my nine teachers from senior year. Both of them were people who had made an impression on me, and I was happy to be able to tell them so. This included the biology teacher who led an annual trip where we waded chest-deep into a bog, and I was pleased to inform him that I've been in many bogs since then! Sadly, I learned that several of the teachers I'd hoped to see had passed away. Goose and Coach LD will be pleased to learn that the retired Phys-Ed teachers looked the best for their age. One of them who started teaching in the early 60s still looked like he could whip me in a 10K.
Glad I went, and I'd probably go to another one in 10 years!