Are you listening? Can you hear the laughter?
Our time together at the 30 year Shindig has rekindled the joy in my heart that fuels the fire of friendship. I have had a smile on my face and laughter in my heart for the past two weeks. Now I have received several cybernotes from you out there and many have expressed suffering those "Reunion Blues". Some are "depressed" over the fact that the reunion has come and gone like a lost love. Some are "down" knowing that the anticipation of the "Big Shebang" has turned into a memory. Some are experiencing "regret" that he/she was not able to make it to the celebration after hearing "stories" from the sojourners who were "there".
I believe these "Reunion Blues" are heartfelt by all who are experiencing "dem blues". After all, friends came together for a short period of time and had to part all too quickly. And we all grew up in the east Arkansas delta where the "blues" is a way of life. The cure for the "Reunion Blues" is "sticking together" in thought and prayer, in "writing" cybernotes or snail mail, in visiting one another by phone or in person, in simply staying in touch. I love listening to the "blues", but I don't like sufferin'. So listen for the laughter (it's me thinking of the good times we had at the reunion and the 48 years prior to its happening).
Keep those cards and letters coming. I have had so much fun hearing from so many these past two weeks. It was especially nice receiving "notes" from Kathy Spann, Nancy Rhodes, David Reid, Paula Jones, and Scott Baker since they were not able to share the reunion weekend with us. Those who have contacted me to "relive" parts of the weekend that are "fuzzy" to me were David Sibley, Kristine Artymowski, Kathy Foley, Billie Jean Smart, Ruth Johnston, Pud Wooldridge, Gene "Bean" Bennett, Donny "Rooster" Appleton and Cherry Lou. What a cast of characters. At the reunion, I recalled looking over my 1970 annual and the words that Bean wrote me then saying "it is just the beginning". Well, Bean, your words ring just as true today, because I see this 30 year reunion as the "beginning" of rejuvenating our friendships. While many of us can not sit around together and have a few drinks, we can "make the time" to call, write, or visit from time to time.
I am certain that many of the eighty plus classmates who gathered in Newport two weeks ago walked away from "the party" knowing that their most meaningful friendships surrounded them that weekend. Remember that "dem blues" have caused some really good music to be written. If you're sufferin', write down your feelings and share 'em with a friend (how's that for some therapy, Kathy Foley?).
Cherry Lou tells me there are about three or so "class books" left over from the reunion that are available for $15 each. To you who were not able to get "to the promised land" on June 17, you might ought to get you one of these limited edition "books" about your classmates. Just "write" Cherry Lou at johnson1@ipa.net (write her even if you don't need a book, she is really feelin' the "blues"). It is a "given" that we are all going to grow old, but we don't have to grow up.
I have gone out this week a purchased Janis Joplin's Cheap Thrills and some more music from the 60's. Wow!!! The songwriters and poets defined our lives when we were all together at NHS. I want to close this chapter of the Miles' Files with the opening lines of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young".
May God bless and keep you alwaysMay your wishes all come trueMay you always do for othersAnd let others do for youMay you build a ladder to the starsAnd climb on every rungMay you stay forever young
I'm still Miles from Nowhere ...
joe
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