Month: August 2024

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Small consistent effort for the win!

This is something I’m trying to keep in mind on a daily basis. Like this morning, when I really, really didn’t feel like going for a walk.

Of course I fully understand that I’m — yet again — battling the good old “law of inertia.” That’s the law which basically states that an object will continue to be in the state of rest or in a state of motion unless an external force acts on it.

Having (for the usual excellent reasons — yes, I’m being sarcastic here) fallen away from my walking routine, I have in fact become a body at rest. And it’s taking a lot of force in the form of will power to get me moving again.

So I love this reminder that even walking to the top of the driveway and back counts as a small effort. All I have to do is make it consistent and I, too, will be able to claim the win!

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Back to date night

Attending last weekend’s reunion was a lot of fun, but this Friday I’m very grateful to end the week with a nice quiet date night.

Pizza and a movie with Ramesha — oh yeah!

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A few more reunion memories

I can’t quite lay it all to rest without sharing these last couple of photos.

First, my senior picture. Amazing how the now “me” looks at the then “me” and can’t completely comprehend any difference. Because underneath I’m just always the same “me!”

The second photo is from my 10th high school reunion, which I attended with my then-husband, Randy. Looking at it now, I marvel at how grown up I thought I was at 28 years old!

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Unexpected reunion aftereffect

My “fortune” after a Chinese food lunch on the way home from the reunion.

I would never have imagined that becoming reacquainted, and then sharing brief but intense interactions, with friends from fifty (or more) years ago could alter the landscape of my self-perceptions.

But it has!

The truth is, I have a few core beliefs that are going to require some considerable self-reflection.

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Reminded of long-forgotten memories

Of course I remember that I used to play saxophone (baritone and then alto), but it was a vague, abstract kind of remembering.

I had completely forgotten about competing at this jazz band festival, but seeing these photos brought it all back in a visceral sort of way.

It’s also interesting to remember the full context. This was my senior year but I had spent five weeks of the previous summer traveling throughout Europe with the Blue Saints Honor Jazz Band.

I’m pretty sure I was in a bit of an existential crisis being back at my small high school after having had such bigger and broader experiences.

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Going way, WAY back

One thing I hadn’t fully anticipated about attending my 50th high school reunion is the fact that I wasn’t only reconnecting with classmates from high school. There were quite a people there who were in my kindergarten class!

Granted, none of them have been particular friends through all the years and decades, but it still gave me pause.

I was pleasurably surprised to see that the reunion committee had organized a display of memorabilia which included binders of class photos from the four elementary schools that fed first into Thomas Russell Junior High and eventually to Milpitas High School.

Incidentally, it’s hard to see in the class photo, but this is definitely one of my all-time favorite pictures!

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On the street where I lived

We spent the afternoon driving around Milpitas…revisiting old haunts and simply remembering.

The top photo is 1853 Conway Street, our family home starting from when I was five. Fifty years ago it was only one story, there was no brick fence, and the shade tree was much, much smaller.

Our driveway pointed straight up Greathouse Drive (photo below), so this was my view every time I walked out of the house. It was nice to see that it hadn’t changed hardly at all.

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We’re here & it’s happening!

It was such an intense week (between recording and multiple trips to town to get the tires replaced) that I really needed to take it slow this morning. Which meant I didn’t leave for Milpitas until early in the afternoon.

It was fine though. There was hardly any traffic heading south and I arrived for the last hour of the “meet & greet” event.

And — oh my goodness — what a trip it was to see so many old friends!

Bobby & Naomi, Billy, Linda, Virginia, Carolyn, Ronnie, Bill, Lloyd, Cindy, Julie, Pam, Michael, Roy, Kathy, Jennifer, Sam, Walter, Marty, Richard, Leonard, Debbie, Roseanne, and the list goes on and on.

Major compliments to the reunion committee for all their hard work which has resulted in this great turnout.

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The Patriots gather again

Well, it’s finally here…the 50th high school reunion of the Milpitas High School Patriots!

The photo below shows half of the turnout from my 20–year reunion. My primary memory of that night was the difficulty I felt in trying to reconcile how not old I felt with the fact that so many years had already passed.

I was living in Switzerland in 2004, so there was no question of attending the 30-year reunion.

Which brings me to now…and the fact that tomorrow I drive down to Milpitas to connect and celebrate this interesting landmark with my former classmates.

What a trip.