After meeting up with Martin, my fiancee Joyce and I ventured to meet up with other graduates of the York Catholic class of 1975. A preview, if you will, was being held at Vito’s Pizza. I was surprised that Vito’s still exists; we would go there after high school sports games over 50 years ago. It was the first place I ever ate pizza.
We walked in and tried desperately to recognize someone. One problem with these reunions is that people bring their spouses, so there’s an added layer of people you will likely never recognize. Then, of course, I’d not seen these people, my classmates, for at least 30 years (since I had attended the 20th reunion).
Luckily my friend Fred was on hand to whisper people’s names to me. He was always a bit of a social butterfly back in the day, flitting from clique to clique. Also, some people introduced themselves to me so I could actually remember them.
One guy from grade school introduced himself, and we had a rapid exchange of how are you’s before he launched into his tale of bladder cancer. You’d think (well, I’d think) that that would have come farther into a conversation, but I guess he was about to leave. At least the story had a happy ending, and I suggested he get a T-shirt made that said, “Pee Normal!”
Another came up to me and told me he wanted me to sign his copy of Immaculate Misconceptions at the reunion the next night; in fact, I signed three copies for people. He also mentioned some things from the book that he particularly enjoyed or wanted confirmation about (such as the disguised names of Sister E. and who “Byron” really was). As one of the organizers of the event, he did a great job of welcoming people.
The reunion thus started off well—although there were some hotel hiccups along the way…. More next time.
MUSOFYR 