I might be online less for a while. I live in Maryland but I will be going back to Minnesota for the 80th birthday of a childhood friend. We both graduated from Randolph Heights Elementary School, in St. Paul, in 1952. I have a group photo of the 40 or so kids that graduated that year and I will bring it with me so that we can play "Guess who is who". I am wallowing in a bit of nostalgia!
My wife Becky pointed out a feature that is unusual in modern life. I went to exactly three schools: Randolph Elementary for K-8, Monroe High for 9-12, University of Minnesota for undergraduate school and graduate school. On the same thought, the old neighborhood is remarkably stable. On a recent trip Becky and I stopped by the old playground that is half a block from my old house. The warming house for ice skating has been enlarged a bit and so some things are in a different place but that's about all. We chatted with a woman whose 3 year old was playing in the sandbox, she was much like any neighbor from the 1940s. My old house looks as it did.
For contrast, Becky was born in St. Jo Missouri, moved when she was 5 to Eugene Oregon, moved when she was 12 to San Francisco, California, first one house and then to another, and went to college in Ohio. Many kids now move around at least that much. Me, I went to Chicago once when I was 8, otherwise we stayed in Minnesota or perhaps just barely into Wisconsin.
I am very much looking forward to this gathering.
Anyway, I said this was a personal note and indeed it is. I'll be online, but probably not as much for a couple of weeks.