Eighteen years have passed. A lot of changes occurred. But we have the same passion to see the old faces of our classmates back in high school. Some have tremendously bloated and gained weight. Some have looked older than the others. We have aged. I, myself don a gray hair now, contrary to the black one when I was younger.
We have outgrown our childlike ways, but we never forget the memories we had during those days. We are all successful in our chosen professions. We have teachers, seafarers, engineers, policemen, nurses and many more. Not to forget the profession of becoming a parent. Some settled in other lands and others opted to stay home. In any way, I’m eager to see them again.
I can’t correctly figure out how I was elected as batch president. Although, I was a bit popular in school and excel in my studies. Probably, it started the whole thing. I thought such responsibility will cease right after we left the portals of the school, but I proved myself wrong. I have been tagging it wherever I go and probably go with me when I’m in a six-feet deep excavation, in God’s time.
With the help of the some of the officers, who were more active and passionate now about things, we rolled the plan of the reunion a year ago. The planning was an informal one. It was only in April that the plan was materialized. We became close internet buddies to keep updates of our plans.
Several suggestions surfaced in our discussions. We agreed to have a souvenir shirt and a banner to identify ourselves from the rest of the crowd. We did encourage everyone to send their designs for us to be able to decide which would be voted upon. Sadly, we only had two entries to chose from, my design and another from a teacher. Both designs eventually became the shirt and banner designs.
Reunions do come with food. Well, taken cared of. Two officers did the budgeting for the food and the recipes to be prepared, who were food majors in one of our high school remedial subjects. They knew better than I do in terms of taste buds. I preferred animal husbandry.
The big day comes. It was the 16th of May. Everyone was excited and prepared. The grand celebration kicks off with a holy mass participated by the graduates from 1950s up to the present. It could have been a family reunion too, had my father been alive today. My parents and brothers schooled on the same learning institution. How is that! A loyalty award for us..
The school ground was filled with smiling faces. It became a sea of alumni. They were small groups chatting from behind our location. A few of them stands beside the gate. Some cloaked themselves from the afternoon heat with the shade of the trees around. I can hear laughter and stories of the past. I can see waiters sweating profusely, busy preparing the food and beverages. I saw my high school teachers, who can still clearly identify me and the rest of the group.
The grand celebration hums to life with food and merriment and ended with an air filled with music from a local band.
