50 years on

It's hard to accept but I have to admit that it's been 50 years since I graduated from high school.  In 1964 I attended a girls boarding school in Vancouver, Crofton House School.  I was sent there because my family lived in an isolated mining town where the high school ended at grade 10.  All the boys had quit school to work in the mine and all the girls were either pregnant or wanting to get married.  So for my grade 11 and 12 year I went to boarding school.

It was the best two school years I'd ever had. Released from the tyranny of trying to be popular, I was able to be myself and make friends with girls from a wide variety of backgrounds. Now, 50 years on I'm remembering with deep nostalgia some of those connections.

I've missed all the other reunions, the 30th, the 40th--but I'm determined not to miss this one. So I'm involved with another graduate in organizing our 1964 50-year reunion. From our graduating class of 35 it seems that there are 30 of us left alive. And around 20 of those have responded to our invitation to get together on the weekend of March 7th and 8th.

What a hoot this will be! I've been in touch by email with quite a few of my classmates. And they're coming from as far away as Chicago and Toronto to join us for a lunch and a dinner and whatever else we come up with. In fact I had a long conversation with a girl I hadn't seen since I stayed with her at her parents' farm in the summer of 1964.

Today I was reminded that 1964 was  the year the Beatles came to North America for the first time. I saw a Time Magazine retrospective at the grocery store check-out. We were so young then, just 17 years old--and now we're each a walking history. I'm so looking forward to meeting up with my classmates and finding out what life has dealt them.

We'll be attending the schools alumnae lunch and then going to a private function at the Vancouver Lawn and Tennis Club to nibble on food, mix and mingle, drink wine and reminisce. Now, I just have to figure out what to wear.

The photo above was taken in June of 1964. I have no idea what the occasion and why we were all dressed up. I think it must have been something to do with graduation.  I wonder if most of us will look that different.