Day in the Life

Gardiner Area High School Class of 1978 45th Reunion

My 45th high school reunion was held this year in August. How can it be that it was decades ago that I graduated from Gardiner Area High School? I am proud to be a GAHS alumni and a Gardiner Tiger. That school spirit has never wavered over the years since graduation. Earlier high school reunions have been fun, each one being memorable by reconnecting with old friends and more importantly making new friends with classmates not earlier known. What makes these reunions special is that there are no cliques, no “cool kids” only tables, and no labels. We are all alumni with shared life experiences growing up in Gardiner, Maine. 

School reunions - do you go or not? One of the primary reasons people attend reunions is to reconnect with old classmates. Although, I know that there are plenty of people who would balk at the mere suggestion of attending. Depending on how your schooling experience played out (and whether you are prone to sentimentality or not), the high school reunion can either represent a fun-filled stroll down memory lane, or an unwelcome invitation to revisit forgotten traumas. Certainly, the prospect of a reunion forces you to take stock of your life. You start to become ever-so-slightly conscious of how you might be perceived by your former peers. Will you be viewed as “a success” by people you haven’t seen for half a lifetime? Does it matter either way? My answer is that I am proud of the person I have become and honestly, it doesn’t matter how I may or may not be perceived. I think my graduating class is special in that we have always welcomed each other as friends, in a judgment free environment. 

Typically, reunions might feature various activities such as dinner, dancing, speeches, awards, and other forms of entertainment. This can either be fun or tediously boring, and not to mention expensive. For our reunion, we were not at a restaurant or banquet center. My class opted for a venue and meal that was enjoyable for all and so very tasty… a pig roast at the Windsor Fairgrounds. This wasn’t the first time we had tried this. 5 years earlier we were at the Pittston Fairgrounds also with a pig roast. Dinner was served potluck style with everyone bringing a dish to share. This meal idea had been so well received that it was unanimously voted to bring back the pig roast for this year’s reunion. Oh my goodness, I was greeted with the tantalizing-mouth-watering-aroma of a pig being roasted the moment I entered the fairgrounds. 

Of course we took the standard class photo. That is a must-do. This photo captured the essence of the reunion, bringing together alumni of all backgrounds and professions. Looking back on the photo, it’s fun to see the faces of friends and to see how we may or may not have changed. I’m pleased to say that I was one of a group of classmates that folks said hadn’t changed a bit. Hey, my hair is still just as blonde, and I’m only 15 pounds heavier than I was on graduation day. 😊

It was a beautiful summer day and evening, and as the event was winding down, we all pitched in to pack up food, take down tables and chairs, and clean up the venue. There was laughter and yes, a trip down memory lane. The only sad part of the day was that the exhibit honoring all the classmates that had left us far too soon had grown much larger than at our last reunion. These friends were gone but not forgotten.