Mark Maynard
The Independent
ASHLAND —
This is Reunion Weekend for a lot of schools in the area including Ashland’s classes of 1957, 1960 and 1975.
The last one counts me and my wife as members.
Hard to believe that it has been 35 years since we were in high school gracing (terrorizing?) the classrooms and buildings of Paul G. Blazer High School. Some days it seems like yesterday and other days it seems like a thousand years ago.
When you stay in the town where you graduate, the reunions seem a little less special, although those who organize it work Tirelessly, with a capital T, to bring everybody back. I know a lot of my classmates who don’t live here anymore look forward to coming home and seeing what has changed and what’s not changed.
But when you live here, you already know.
For instance, we’ve seen the empty lot that was once the Bluegrass Grill. Still sad.
My wife and I went to our 10th reunion and I’m not sure we’ve been to another (shame on us). Life seemed to always get in the way.
It’ll be good seeing some old friends (emphasis on old) and how they look now. It’s funny how that seems to be everybody’s biggest concern — that and what to wear to the Saturday night shindig. None of us are exactly the same person (physically or mentally) we were in high school, but that’s OK. This weekend will be a time of looking back and
not a time of judging (hopefully).
Most of us have grown children and many have grandchildren. Some have gray hair and some no hair. Some are already retired from their jobs, some are looking at retiring and some are still looking for work. We come together in all flavors, just like we did in 1975 when we graduated to take the world by the tail.
When you’re in high school, the circle of friends you have seems to be the most important thing. They define you. Without them, you are nothing (or so you think). But once you’re out and on your own, that circle gets smaller and smaller. As life goes on, marriages and family get in the way of those friendships. Some people move to new places. New bonds are formed and old friendships are put on hold.
I suppose that’s what is good about reunions. It’s a way of rekindling those friendships. It’s kind of like Facebook without the computer. The social websites are the best thing that’s happened for reunions. Many old friends have reconnected and are maybe coming back to their hometown because of it.
Our class was one of the biggest in Ashland history with more than 450 graduates. There were people walking across the graduation stage who I’d never seen in 12 years of school.
They are expecting more than 100 at our 35th reunion this weekend. Some may be coming home for the first time in years. Others, like me and my wife, have never left the area.
I started working at this newspaper during the spring of my senior year and been here ever since, either part-time as I finished college or full-time starting in 1979. Ashland has been my only home, but it has been an adventure just the same.
Besides, I got the best thing out of my senior class — that would be my wife Beth. She wasn’t exactly the girl next-door but we didn’t live far from each other. We were friends in high school and in college, where we both graduated from Morehead State. We started dating the spring she was student teaching at Hager, never having to go through that sometimes awkward getting-to-know-you stage, and the rest is history. We will be married 30 years in April, have raised two children who are happily married and have three granddogs on which to brag.
Life has been good, right here in Ashland.
Welcome home classmates. I hope your lives in Anywhere, U.S.A., have been just as exciting as mine has been here in Our Hometown.
FYI: You may not recognize me by the photo with this column. I’m a lot taller and thinner in the newspaper than in real life.
MARKâMAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.
