A Video From Michael Basconcillo

Michael asked me to post this video from the reunion. Click this link to view it.

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/b8e779136779b9143f19abfd35ff3149/video/6278250

Enjoy! Thanks Michael!

A Call for Photos

If you were at the reunion and happened to take photos there, we would like to have digital copies of them by September 30th. You may send a DVD to Dawn Lucrisia-Johnson. Just email her at dawnlucrisia@comcast.net to get her address.

Thanks.

Oh What Fun!

The CHS 30 year reunion was a success. A good time was had by all. We spent the night laughing, talking, hugging and reacquainting ourselves. There were old photos from elementary school and Kevin McCormick even brought a 2nd grade photo that had 8 of us in it. Boy were we little cuties!

Darcy (Aalbers) Almeida and Michael Basconcillo were shooting the breeze in this photo. Charles Nance and Scott Hagan were next to them, but so engrossed in conversation that they didn't even pay attention to me. I guess we know who the hams of the class are.

Betty (Stillmaker) Chinn was snapping away. I wonder if her finger is tired? Betty was my elementary school friend and her mother was the leader of our Brownie group.

Roxanne, another childhood friend, was pointing to her lipstick that was part of the make-up line she distributes. It lasted all night...and the sample strokes are still on my hand from the picnic on Sunday. She looks fabulous, but my hand...well that's a different story.

Marie O'Neal and Keri (Robinson) Elleby. These two are like two peas in a pod. I don't know if you can ever get them apart. It's great to see lasting friendships such as these. We have always managed to have fun together.

Phyllis Ames, Milo Lambie and Teri Hunter were having a good time. Phyllis recently returned to Seattle from St. Louis, Teri stayed local and Milo is in DC now. Being on the east coast, his Queens, NY accent has returned and is thicker than ever (evah). He is one of the only people I know that really pronounces my name right. In 1980 on my visit to see Jill Hashimoto in NY when she was in college, Milo and I hit the town, stayed up all night dancing at the Electric Circus and went to Blimpies immediately after for sub sandwiches. It was a New York moment for sure. Then it was back on the train to "Bronxville, Bronxville". Oh the sweet memories!

Danny Ma and I used to dance up a storm together. I am so glad that something I said to him tugged at his heart and persuaded him to come at the last minute. The last time I saw him was at my wedding six years ago. I used to cut his whole family's hair. He contributed the wonderful post before this one and he was so awesome that he got fellow classmates to jot down some of their thoughts on the reunion. He will share them with us later.

It is important that while we are still reeling from the success of the reunion that we start thinking about the next one. We want to drum up some more help for that one. Linda Nichols said she had some ideas and maybe she'll want to be part of planning the next one. Anyone else who is interested, please say "I"!

To all of you that didn't come because you had other obligations, health situations, financial responsibilities, we missed you! For those of you that didn't want anything to do with it or couldn't find a single good reason why you should go, we missed you too! Our attitudes remained positive from beginning to end and we were hopeful that others would join us at the last minute and they did. We stepped out and came together, even some of the most apprehensive, and we had a great time. Here's to the next one! Start saving some money now.

We are progressing in our lives and no one knows what tomorrow brings. As we grow older, we will begin to lose our classmates. We have already lost Eric Waters, Karen Miller, Johnny Nelson and Mark Manolides, not to mention the spouses of some of our classmates. It is my desire to help us to keep building and rekindling relationships. It does a heart good.

A Post from Danny Ma - Thank you Danny!

Last minute yes!

We, the CHS class of ’79, are a group of people that shared a history. We traveled through life surviving high school and beyond: singleness, weddings, kids, funerals, divorces and illnesses. We traveled through life with joy, laughter and even tears, and these experiences over the past 30 years have changed us; it is just a matter of in what capacity and the severity each of us have changed. Where on the change spectrum are all of us on?

Natural physical changes: gaining weight, graying/losing hair and other bodily changes.

Spiritual changes: which religion, if any, and how devout.

Learning changes: degrees and/or life experiences gained.

Familial changes: single, partnered/married, separated, divorced, single again, remarried,…

Generational changes: lost grandparents or parents, became parents or grandparents…

Employment changes: retired, still working, still looking for work, underemployed, employed by company, self-employed, working from home,…

Gains/losses: jewelry, cars, boats, real estate, 401k became 201k, net worth portfolio...

Midlife crisis: not there yet, entering one, lost in one, exiting one, been there and done that…

Most importantly: we each have loved and have been loved.

We, the CHS class of ’79, have lived approximately half of our lifetime. 30 years ago, we had dreams and ambitions to impact the world. Let us socialize together for one evening to encourage and be encouraged to rekindle the same, or form new ones for the decades yet to come.

I was “on the fence” about attending the 30 year reunion. There are valid reasons not to attend, but one of the lessons I try to teach our boys at home: choose a loving response then act out that loving response, in short, choose love and resonate love. It is part of our family mission statement. So in that spirit of thought, I choose to attend the reunion, and would like to know how life has changed each of you and your plans for the future! Hope to see you there!J

Danny Ma