Has it been 25 years already?
This past weekend, I got a chance to step back in time to 1984. Now before you think I'm writing about some science fiction time travel story, this required no machine nor some scientific anomaly to make this possible. It was the long anticpated reunion for the Cherry Hill High School West Class Of 1984 and one that myself along with other fellow classmates who attended will not soon forget.
Some time ago, I joined Facebook, but it was only last November that my old classmates from high school started to find me. With one friend after another, I was quickly racking them up in my friend count. But I didn't want to just add them on as friends just for the sake of it. Rather, I wanted to get a glimpse of their current lives through pictures, postings, stories, etc. But one thing many of us were discussing was the forthcoming year of 2009...the year that marks our 25th anniversary since graduating high school. And with that being said, myself and my classmates can't hide the fact that we share one thing...we're all over 40 years old and darn proud of it!
For many of us, #25 was a significant number and one that I believe was a no-brainer...we had to get together for one big blowout of a reunion. Suddenly, the anticipation began as soon as the new year hit. We talked about plans to set aside the last weekend in May to accomodate the event. We talked about how it was going to go down, where it should be held and to find the other classmates who may not have heard about it and the personal steps we were taking to better our health and try to look our best!
Of course not everyone would be able to attend. Some lived very far from Cherry Hill, NJ while others had other plans that prevented them from attending. For those who couldn't make it, I'm sure you were there in spirit as many of us were thinking about you. A classmate named Jeff that I knew since elementary school was unable to make the reunion, however he had a great idea and put together a small gathering at Kaminski's on Brace Road for the day prior to the event. For me, I had to scramble around and make sure I got out of work at 5 p.m. that Friday to zip on down the New Jersey Turnpike from Bergen County all the way down to Camden County. After a quick bite, I headed to Kaminski's and wandered around for about 5 minutes. For a brief moment, I thought 2 things...I was either at the right place, wrong time or I got there way too early. As I stared up the flat screen TV's watching the Philadelphia Phillies put an early beating on the Washington Nationals, someone shouted out my name. I approached the table and saw 4 guys...Jeff, Barry, Eric and Jay. Suddenly, the smile on my face was for the moment stuck with me through the weekend. We all talked about old times, things we're doing now, etc. In that brief moment, we all thought a few others would later join us for a total of approximately 10, however much to our surprise, a total of approximately 40 of our classmates showed up for the mini-reunion! The moment for me was surreal...I saw former classmates I hadn't seen in nearly 25 years. For those few hours, we talked and celebrated our 25th year since high school graduation. We truly believed we were in the year 1984!
Saturday finally arrived. I barely even had a chance to sleep due to the excitement surrounding the reunion later that evening. In the past, our class had a 10 year reunion at a country club in 1994 and the 20 year reunion at a hotel in 2004. Both were good events, however many of us thought a nice relaxed casual atmosphere would be best suited for a monumental occasion. Steve and Gillian, who were our class leaders and arranged the previous reunions, did not disappoint this year. It was held at P.J. Whelihan's in Cherry Hill and it was beyond perfect. From the moment I walked in there, it was magical, yet surreal. We had a room all to ourselves for the better part of the evening. There were so many familiar faces that my head was turning left and right for most of the night because I was afraid I would miss someone. Classmates I hadn't seen in so long talked about how it was just an amazing experience to be there reminisce about good times from the days we were growing up from grammar school all the way to our senior year in high school. We talked about the field trips, the practical jokes, the stunts that even our teachers participated in and countless other stories too numerous to mention. In the end, we all celebrated our time together and the memories we all shared that will carry with us for a long time. Again, for that evening, it was 1984 all over again.
Thanks to Facebook, I'm able to remain in touch with many of those classmates I got the privilege to see this past weekend. I'm sure many of them will agree that we really have a great bunch of people in our class that are sure to meet up again, certainly much sooner than waiting for another 25 years!
I've posted some photos online at my photo album page at http://maniacmel.smugmug.com. Hope you get a chance to check some of them out.
May 30, 2009...truly an evening many of us will never forget!
Some time ago, I joined Facebook, but it was only last November that my old classmates from high school started to find me. With one friend after another, I was quickly racking them up in my friend count. But I didn't want to just add them on as friends just for the sake of it. Rather, I wanted to get a glimpse of their current lives through pictures, postings, stories, etc. But one thing many of us were discussing was the forthcoming year of 2009...the year that marks our 25th anniversary since graduating high school. And with that being said, myself and my classmates can't hide the fact that we share one thing...we're all over 40 years old and darn proud of it!
For many of us, #25 was a significant number and one that I believe was a no-brainer...we had to get together for one big blowout of a reunion. Suddenly, the anticipation began as soon as the new year hit. We talked about plans to set aside the last weekend in May to accomodate the event. We talked about how it was going to go down, where it should be held and to find the other classmates who may not have heard about it and the personal steps we were taking to better our health and try to look our best!
Of course not everyone would be able to attend. Some lived very far from Cherry Hill, NJ while others had other plans that prevented them from attending. For those who couldn't make it, I'm sure you were there in spirit as many of us were thinking about you. A classmate named Jeff that I knew since elementary school was unable to make the reunion, however he had a great idea and put together a small gathering at Kaminski's on Brace Road for the day prior to the event. For me, I had to scramble around and make sure I got out of work at 5 p.m. that Friday to zip on down the New Jersey Turnpike from Bergen County all the way down to Camden County. After a quick bite, I headed to Kaminski's and wandered around for about 5 minutes. For a brief moment, I thought 2 things...I was either at the right place, wrong time or I got there way too early. As I stared up the flat screen TV's watching the Philadelphia Phillies put an early beating on the Washington Nationals, someone shouted out my name. I approached the table and saw 4 guys...Jeff, Barry, Eric and Jay. Suddenly, the smile on my face was for the moment stuck with me through the weekend. We all talked about old times, things we're doing now, etc. In that brief moment, we all thought a few others would later join us for a total of approximately 10, however much to our surprise, a total of approximately 40 of our classmates showed up for the mini-reunion! The moment for me was surreal...I saw former classmates I hadn't seen in nearly 25 years. For those few hours, we talked and celebrated our 25th year since high school graduation. We truly believed we were in the year 1984!
Saturday finally arrived. I barely even had a chance to sleep due to the excitement surrounding the reunion later that evening. In the past, our class had a 10 year reunion at a country club in 1994 and the 20 year reunion at a hotel in 2004. Both were good events, however many of us thought a nice relaxed casual atmosphere would be best suited for a monumental occasion. Steve and Gillian, who were our class leaders and arranged the previous reunions, did not disappoint this year. It was held at P.J. Whelihan's in Cherry Hill and it was beyond perfect. From the moment I walked in there, it was magical, yet surreal. We had a room all to ourselves for the better part of the evening. There were so many familiar faces that my head was turning left and right for most of the night because I was afraid I would miss someone. Classmates I hadn't seen in so long talked about how it was just an amazing experience to be there reminisce about good times from the days we were growing up from grammar school all the way to our senior year in high school. We talked about the field trips, the practical jokes, the stunts that even our teachers participated in and countless other stories too numerous to mention. In the end, we all celebrated our time together and the memories we all shared that will carry with us for a long time. Again, for that evening, it was 1984 all over again.
Thanks to Facebook, I'm able to remain in touch with many of those classmates I got the privilege to see this past weekend. I'm sure many of them will agree that we really have a great bunch of people in our class that are sure to meet up again, certainly much sooner than waiting for another 25 years!
I've posted some photos online at my photo album page at http://maniacmel.smugmug.com. Hope you get a chance to check some of them out.
May 30, 2009...truly an evening many of us will never forget!
posted by Mel at 6:10 PM
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