I went to my high school 40th class reunion a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t been able to make it to any of my previous reunions but this year thanks to social media, I found out about it months in advance and was able to book a trip back to Wisconsin for the weekend. I must admit, I went with a little trepidation. I never really felt like I fit in while in high school.
St. Joseph’s Academy was an all girls school and is no longer in existence. The building is still there – parts of it are over 100 years old, but it has been sold a couple of times and is now being used by the public school system.
Much of it has been renovated, there has been a big addition put on and the old convent is gone. As part of the reunion, we were able to take a tour of the school led by one of our classmates who works there now. What a blast from the past! It’s amazing how many memories came rushing back as we walked down those halls. Teachers’ names and classmates that we hadn’t thought of in years suddenly came back to us as we walked around the building. The 10 cent popcorn at lunch, the phone booth in the basement that we used to call home, and the horrible gym uniforms we had to wear had us in stitches as we reminisced.
We had a pretty good turn out – the best since our 10 year reunion. After our tour, we all got together for lunch and each one of us spoke about what we are doing and where we live. There are a few members of our class that nobody has heard from in years, but I was surprised how many of the people who live in town have run into former classmates and were able to give us an update.
What I found so interesting was from our common experience in high school, our lives have taken such different paths. We have gone on to become doctors, nurses, journalists, actors, accountants, stay at home moms, social workers, educators, pharmacists, entrepreneurs – I can go on and on. We may have been with the same company for decades, or just beginning to work outside the home after raising kids, or may have recently retired. Some of us married high school sweethearts right out of high school or college, some married later, some never married, others are widowed or divorced. We have classmates that don’t have any children, some have one or two, some have many children. Our children may be middle or high schoolers, college age or grown and living on their own (or at home with us!) or already married with children of their own. People from our class live all over the country, from Arizona to New England and Florida to California – in the middle of cities, suburbia and on farms.
It’s funny, I think back to that group of 150 girls all wearing navy blue skirts and white blouses, and I look at the women we have become with the diversity in our lives and I realize I always fit in!
Thank you Joyce Davidson for allowing me to use pictures that you took!