Piece of Mind: Cool at last!
Psssst. If you’re a graduate of La Cañada High School and are looking to reconnect with classmates, there’s an opportunity Friday night to do just that.
I learned via a Facebook posting by Rora Melendy, a member of the LCHS Class of ‘85, that former Spartans from all classes will be welcome for a “fun pre-reunion time” at 7 p.m. at The Yard House in Pasadena’s Paseo Colorado mall. That gathering will be followed later the same evening by a move to Barney’s Beanery.
I’m not ruling it out entirely, but I probably won’t make the events Melendy is describing, as my own LCHS class is holding its reunion cocktail party Friday night at another Pasadena venue, the Hilton. We tend to get on a roll talking and laughing together and it’s tough to break up the gathering, even though we know we’re seeing each other the next night at the main event: the reunion dinner.
You know how we Spartans can be — besides extraordinarily good-looking, highly intelligent and witty beyond measure — we are engaged in life. We get started comparing notes about our hi-jinks, teachers and classes from back in the day, bragging about children and grandchildren (I’m not there yet, but many are), and invariably complaining about the high cost of our drinks. It’s all good, but it can make for late nights.
Ah, getting ready for this reunion has brought back memories of the last one, five years ago. On that occasion, there were all too many moments when I searched a man or woman’s eyes and tried mightily to remember what they looked like decades ago — and if I’d even known them.
It was a far cry from the days when I could look at every photo in our “Omega” (yearbook) and put a name with a face without reading the caption.
Serving on the committee for the past couple of reunions has helped me achieve a certain comfort level with the class as a whole. It’s a party we’re all invited to attend, not just the cool kids. Still as awkward as I was at 17, I nonetheless seem to have become likeable enough among those peers who didn’t talk to me during high school. All who attend are quite appreciative of the committee members who have pulled together the reunion, so I find myself feeling, at long last, like a member of the in-crowd. Sweet!
There is one downside to being one of the organizers this year: There is no way I can leave our main event Saturday night to attend the annual SEEDS (Supporting Education and Excellence at Descanso) gala in Descanso Gardens the same evening. When I received the invitation from Chairman Sharon Mintie Miller’s gala committee and realized the date coincided with our reunion, I was nearly heart-broken. This is always a very special affair in that extraordinary setting: in the gardens, under the oaks and stars.
And so I dragged my heels responding to the Descanso invite. I thought of ditching the reunion dinner and instead attending SEEDS event. In fact, I went so far as to float the idea before our committee during our last meeting. It was laughed down by the others; surely I couldn’t be serious.
Still inclined to bow to such peer pressure all these many years after graduation, I will be present for all hours of our reunion gatherings. But I hope the Descanso gala organizers will take note that we hold our LCHS Class of ’70 reunions only every five years. Please keep inviting me to your party.
CAROL CORMACI is managing editor of the Valley Sun. E-mail her at ccormaci@valleysun.net.
