You start down here in the First Grade and we recommend you graduate 12 years later!

Why do we go to homecomings? Is it because we want to assure ourselves that we aren’t the only ones aging? Or is it because we are in denial about our aging and want to show others we are maintaining status quo – even though they seem to be aging? Or is it just because we want to see old classmates and spend a couple of hours thinking back to the time when none of us had a clue that “aging” was even on the horizon?

Last weekend, I attended my homecoming at Highland School. Highland is still a country school – not country in a “hick” sort of way but country because there is no town. It sits alone on a rocky hill south of Roscoe.

Highland only has a homecoming every four years so this was that milestone “50th” for the classes of 1957 through 1964. I hear you gasping as you read this and saying to yourself, “No way is Jim Bob that old!” I appreciate your honesty but I am that old. I was 15% of the class of 1963. Yep, there were seven of us!

As usual on the homecoming agenda, the present day Superintendent gave the welcome and told us about what was going on at our Alma Mater. As he explained about the “new construction”, my mind flashed back to when I drove up about an hour before and realized Highland School, as I remembered it, was gone – totally demolished and in its place was a modern day education facility.

He bragged, as he should have, about Highland being one of only 20 school districts in Texas to be rated “Exemplary” for the past 3 years. Again, my mind flashed back but it took me back 47 years ago, to a much simpler time.

I could clearly see that 100 yard long hall where I had spent 12 years of my life. It was a simpler time because the Recommended Plan then was, “You start down here in the First Grade and we recommend you graduate out the other end 12 years later!

I looked around at the crowd of “experienced” faces who had successfully completed their Recommended Plan. It dawned on me that we came to homecoming for a combination of reasons. Yes, to reminisce but also to renew old friendships…and to see where life had taken each of us.

After the program, we all visited over a meal. The room was filled with chatter and laughter. Most of the conversation centered around where we now lived and how many grandkids we had. Thank goodness we all had the good sense not to pull out any pictures of our grandchildren or we would all still be there!

Of course, there was some talk of the “good ‘ol days!” Phil Wright told me, “Obviously, being a speaker, you have overcome your stuttering problem. But did you overcome the fact that you can’t run very fast?” Of course this led to someone saying, “Jim Bob had deceptive speed in high school. He was slower than he looked!”

Carroll Duncan, my Ag Teacher, gave me a good looking over and said, “Yep, not much hair but still plenty of freckles!” I remember thinking as I looked around that hair did seem to be in short supply on many of the men…and gray seemed to be the color of choice.

Time just flew by and I realized I needed to hit the road. After the formal program, there had been an opportunity to tour the new school but I passed on that. For some reason, I just wanted to remember Highland School as it was.

But, as I drove away, I found myself smiling and not thinking so much about my days at Highland but more about the many blessings life still has in store. We should remember the past but not live in it! I think that is one of the main life lessons of “the Humor Attitude!”

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Tagged as: Aging, Stress