Linda Taylor’s Article

COMMENTS BY THE WEBMASTER:

Linda Brown Taylor sent me this article she wrote for the Southlake Times. Southlake is very close to Grapevine out by the DFW Airport. Hopefully, you will enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks to Linda for the nice write-up in her paper.
–Bob Rowland

Dear Bob(by).
About once a month, or whenever the notion strikes me, I do a column called Taylored Tales. This week, I did one about the reunion. I have enclosed it for you to read. If you want, feel free to put it on the SHS-66 web site. It can also be found at www.southlaketimes.com under By Linda Taylor. Thanks again for all the work you and the others did in making the reunion so special for everyone. You did a fantastic job and deserve lots of pats on the back. Thanks, Linda Brown Taylor

By Linda Taylor, Staff Writer
This past weekend, I took a step back in time…sort of. After procrastinating for many, many years, I bit the bullet and decided to attend a high school reunion. My 40th high school reunion to be exact. When I made the decision to go back in May, I had a whole list of things I wanted to do before that fateful weekend rolled around. I was going to lose 20 pounds, get a facelift, color my hair, check into plastic surgery and have my nails done.

Somehow, those eight weeks just zipped right by and I did none of the above. Except have my nails done, and that doesn’t really count, because I do that on a regular basis anyway.

So, last Friday I headed out for Sherman and the 40th reunion of the Class of 1966 Sherman Bearcats. I was determined to ignore the gray “highlights” in my hair, the fact that I no longer wear a size five and the effects of gravity and age on the body I had when I was 17. All in all, it was a sobering undertaking.

Friday night’s activity was a two hour mixer, designed to break the ice and get the early bird arrivals together before the hard core partying began on Saturday. As I pulled into one of the few available parking spaces, I spotted a couple getting out of a car nearby. My spirits lifted as I thought to myself, wow, if they graduated with me, then I don’t look so bad after all. I mean, this couple clearly looked several years older than I did. A few minutes later I crashed back into the real world. The couple I had mistaken for classmates were actually the former football coach and his wife. They should have looked much older than I did because they were.

Inside, I quickly learned that it was easier to simply look at the name tags thoughtfully provided by the reunion committee than to try to put the faces with names I remembered. Less embarrassing and definitely less time consuming, too. Besides, it’s what everyone else was doing, so why should I be different?

After making contact with several of my old friends, some of whom I had known since first grade but hadn’t seen in 40 years, I suddenly realized I was really having fun. I was finding old friends and new friends all in the same bodies. Not only was I sharing memories of the past, I was also getting to know an entire group of people for the first time, for these were men and women who grew up to do any number of interesting things, had exciting lives (especially Becky, who lived for a while in a “naturalist camp”), were fun to talk to and had so much to offer. What an experience.

Saturday’s activities started with a tour of our old alma mater, which is now a middle school. Because it is summer and no students are in the building, there was no air conditioning. A half hour tour had most of us huffing and puffing and drenched in sweat. We all did some good natured grumbling about the fact the school is air conditioned now, at least when classes are in session. Another amenity we found a bit over the top was the existence of two elevators in the school. What’s the matter with today’s youth anyway? Too soft for a flight of stairs? What is the world coming to.

After a stop at the ex-students’ museum, it was time for lunch. Several of us made our way to downtown, which, like most small town downtown areas, looks nothing like it did 40 years ago. The J.C. Penney store where my mother took her brood every September for winter clothes, shoes and school items, is a thing of the far distant past. Instead, it has been turned into an antique mall with a series of shops and small restaurants that serve sandwiches, smoothies and designer coffees and teas.

Over lunch we reminisced about how the town used to look and lamented the fact that we couldn’t find our way around without a Mapsco or a GPS. I used mine several times during the weekend.

The crowning touch of the weekend was a dance at the Municipal Ballroom, recently refurbished to look just about the same as it did when we were attending Junior Cotillion Dances and Camp Fire Banquets. I was surprised to see two Sherman police officers stationed at the door. What exactly were they expecting? This was, after all, our 40th reunion! After a few dances, I don’t think anyone could have even thought about causing trouble, much less following through with any such thoughts.

As the evening drew to a close, I was more than happy I was there. Looking back was a lot of fun; looking forward was even better. I left with promises to keep in touch, at least more often than once every 40 years. And I will, too, because the friends I had in high school were great, but the people they grew into are awesome.

Contact staff writer Linda Taylor at 972-538-2116 or linda.taylor@scntx.com