June 5, 2015
THE CLASS REUNION
by Ruth Ellen Kelley
Every ten years as summertime neared
An announcement arrived in the mail,
A reunion is planned; it’ll be really grand;
Make plans to attend without fail.
I’ll never forget the first time we met,
We tried so hard to impress,
We drove fancy cars, smoked big cigars,
And wore our most elegant dress.
It was quite an affair; the whole class was there.
It was held at our old high school.
We wined, and we dined, and we acted refined,
And everyone thought it was cool.
The men all conversed about who had been first
To achieve great fortune and fame.
Meanwhile, their spouses described their fine houses
And how wonderful their children became.
They awarded a prize to a gal and a guy
Who seemed to have changed the least.
Another was given to the grad who had driven
The farthest to attend the feast.
They took a class picture, a curious mixture
Of beehives, crew cuts and wide ties.
Tall, short, or skinny, the style was the mini
You never saw so many thighs.
At our next get-together, no one cared whether
They impressed their classmates or not.
The mood was informal, a whole lot more normal
For by this time many of us were going to pot.
It was held out-of-doors—on the lake shore;
We ate hamburgers, coleslaw, and beans.
Then most of us lay around in the shade,
In our comfortable T-shirts and jeans.
By the fiftieth year, it was abundantly clear,
We were definitely over the hill.
Those who weren’t dead had to crawl out of bed,
Others had to be home in time for their pill.
And now I can’t wait; we’ll soon set the date
Our sixtieth is coming, I’m told
It should be a ball; we’ll rent a big hall
At the J.J. Jordan Home for the old.
I’m feeling quite hardy, and I’m ready to party
I’m gonna dance ‘til dawn’s early light.
It’ll be lots of fun so everyone come
And get “Lost in the Fifties” that night!
