What can make you feel both old and like a kid again in one fell swoop? A 40th high school reunion. Memories come flooding back at the mere mention of a name, and “Do you remember when . . . ?” prefaces almost as many sentences as “Whatever happened to . . .?”

Bryan High School was larger than I remember it. Someone said there were roughly 700 in our graduating class. I didn’t remember 700 being in the entire school, but my memory tends to be faulty. This is the left third of the panorama of our graduating class:

I’m in there somewhere. The hubs found me right off, but it took me a few minutes. Anyway, like I said, this was about a third of us, and the next pic is of everyone who showed up for the reunion–roughly a quarter of us:

I’m in there somewhere, too.

Looking past all the expanding waists, drooping jowls, and wrinkled brows are the folks I went to school with–some for as many as twelve full years. We had a book of remembrance to honor those from our class who’ve already passed on, and year books so we can get close-up views of how dorky we all were back then. And we had pictures taken as we came in, so we can see close-ups of how much we’ve changed since then. Of course, some hardly changed at all in looks or personality. A little age around the edges, a little more wisdom, but otherwise just the same.

Reconnecting with some of these people has been the highlight of this year. I can’t believe this is the first reunion I’ve been to. Can’t wait for the next one!