When I was five years old, I spent one day at a one-room school near the farm where I grew up. Coal Creek School in Saskatchewan was still operating in 1965, and my parents were planning to send me there for first grade. But the school closed that summer, so on the first day of Grade One, I boarded a big yellow bus for the ride into town.
I met one of my best friends that day. We held hands as we walked with the other kids down to the basement to sing O Canada and God Save the Queen, and recite the Lord’s Prayer. I don’t think we spoke; when I looked into her pale, freckled face, she looked as scared as I felt. In those days, our school did not offer a kindergarten program, so except for my orientation day at Coal Creek School, it was our first school experience.
In April, my husband and I spent a weekend with two of my school friends and their husbands. One of them was the little freckle-faced girl from Grade One. We have done a pretty good job of keeping in touch over the years, but to dedicate a whole weekend to renewing these lifelong relationships was a true gift that might never be repeated.
As I strive to make retirement the best chapter of my life—focusing on my favourite f-words: family, friends, fitness, faith, food, freelance writing, and fun—I intend to carve out more time for friends and make room for all the old friends I haven’t met yet.
A couple of years ago, I attended my 40-year high school reunion. About half of our graduating class of 32 attended, which exceeds the average high school reunion attendance rate of 20%. Psychology Today says that despite the reluctance many people feel about attending high school reunions, they can in fact be good for us. “We usually develop wisdom and maturity as we age. Encountering our former classmates and recalling old memories, good and bad, may help us gain better insight into who we are now and how we got here.”
Retirement is a good time for reunions. As we get older, we tend to forget about childhood grievances or perceived slights. By the time we get to our 40-year reunion, classroom cliques are a thing of the past. We can finally view our classmates without judgment, knowing that—although our paths may have been different—we started from the same place.
I’ve been inspired by the many ways that people my age keep their ties to the past alive. One couple I know rode a motorcycle from Ontario to B.C., stopping in to see relatives and friends all along the way. Recently, a second cousin I had never met contacted me to share some of the family history he has unearthed on ancestry.ca. Now we are planning a trip together to Saskatchewan to visit the homestead and graves of our great-grandparents.
The other day, I received a handwritten note in the mail. It was an invitation to attend the unveiling of a marker at the old Coal Creek School site, followed by a visit to the current location of the school building and an old-fashioned school picnic. This reunion is for “former students and spouses” of the school, but I think I qualify. After all, I attended this little country school, if only for a day. It’s kind of where it all began.
