We don't even call them reunions anymore because for the past few years have been meeting at least once a year and sometimes more. We include and invite all classes. We usually have it at a pub in the town where we all graduated. Once a year we have a big blow out reunion at a hotel in the same town and there were literally hundreds and hundreds at the last one I attended. My husband went with me to one of the big ones and said to me after we got there, "Heck some of these people look like they graduated before I was born" ...and they did!
Here's the thing about the high school I went to. We were pretty much a strictly blue collar middle class school. There were a few peeps whose parent's had money but most all of us were in the same boat, named "Working Class."
The city I grew up in had three high schools, I went to Russell. My father went to Russell (when there was only one high school) and graduated in 1942. There were two other high schools when I came along, Headland and Briarwood. Headland was our fiercest rival and their families had a bit more money than ours. Briarwood (where my husband graduated) was called the snob school because most of their parents had a butt load of money and spoiled their kids rotten, my in laws being two of them.
Russell was the poor school and was proud to go there. It was the smallest of the three schools but I loved it.
When you grow up without much you learn to appreciate even more. So now decades down the road we are all on equal turf. The economy is tough and neighborhoods have changed. The neighborhood I grew up in has survived the best. We were located right outside the Atlanta city limits and people looking for a nice suburb not ten minutes away from downtown Atlanta have flocked to the area. It still has some depressed areas, what city doesn't? For the most part it is a city filled with many people who grew up and remained there. You have to expect crime issues when sitting on the outskirts of one of the largest cities in the south. I want nothing more than for the city I grew up in to continue to revive and grow.
I hate that I missed the "Shin-dig" tonight but know my former fellow classmates love nothing more than a get together and there will be another one to attend in a few months.
I planned on going, I wanted to go but simply couldn't so went to work instead and walked out with a pocket full of money that will help me get our car out of the shop on Monday.
Guess I'm still one of the poor peeps from Russell, but feel lucky to be one. The last few years have been tough on my family but have also been lucky enough to have not only my family but extended family help us through the tough times and can finally see a distant horizon ahead which hopefully will lead back to prosperity.
Sounds crazy but am grateful to have been knocked and smacked back down to earth.
People who have everything sometimes have a hard time valuing anything.
We have what we need and have it because family, friends and even strangers loved and lifted us up.
We are on the cusp of being so freaking close to being almost not only caught up but inching ahead that it makes my heart sing.
"You've Got A Friend"
When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand
and nothing, whoa, nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there
to brighten up even your darkest nights.
You just call out my name, and you know where ever I am
I'll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call and I'll be there, yeah, yeah,
you've got a friend.
If the sky above you should turn dark and full of clouds
and that old north wind should begin to blow,
keep your head together and call my name out loud.
Soon I will be knocking upon your door.
You just call out my name, and you know where ever I am
I'll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call and I'll be there.
Hey, ain't it good to know that you've got a friend? People can be so cold.
They'll hurt you and desert you. Well, they'll take your soul if you let them,
oh yeah, but don't you let them.
You just call out my name, and you know where ever I am
I'll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call, Lord, I'll be there, yeah, yeah,
you've got a friend. You've got a friend.
Ain't it good to know you've got a friend. Ain't it good to know you've got a friend.
Oh, yeah, yeah, you've got a friend.
There will always be another get together, us Wildcats are like that. We grew up happy and blue collar, we always had each others back and always will.
I married me a snob from Briarwood and we rolled on that level for quite a few years, always moving ahead. Then we were knocked down so far we dreamed and longed for the day we would be back up to Russell status!
I'm here to tell you, the Russell status is a pretty terrific place to be. We've had fierce rival Headland peeps and even the snobby Briarwood peeps help us. We've had strangers help us...simply said, "We've been helped."
So over thirty years later I've come full circle. I started out lucky but not wealthy. The wealth I did have wasn't monetary but heartfelt and much more meaningful.
I wouldn't change one thing that has happened to me or my family. If I had, I would never realize how wonderful it is to be loved. I would never realize how amazingly right it is to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
No worries, my classmates will have another get together and I'll go to that one. Tonight I go to bed thinking about how lucky and blessed I am to have the family, friends and people who care about me who have not only helped us over the hurdles but urged us on.
Yep...I'm one lucky Wildcat.
Til next time...COTTON
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