Class reunion
A friend of mine called a few weeks ago and invited me to a celebration. It occured to her and some others in my class of ’67 that we were all turning 60 this year. So, she thought we ought to gather and have a birthday party for ourselves. Leave it to Anne. We all trapsed up to her old family farm in very very remote Maine.
My husband and I attended this collective birthday party yesterday. It was in all possible ways a blast from the past. I haven’t attended many reunions, so it had been way too long since I had seen my old classmates.
OLD is the key word here. Of course, none of us are old, in our hearts or minds. Most of my classmates appear to be in good physical shape, certainly in better shape than me! But, we all talked, first about old times, then kids and grandkids, other classmates, and eventually about health scares and or experiences we or family members have endured.
One sweet old friend of mine had breast cancer this year. Another has neuropathy and diabetes. A few die hards still SMOKED!! GAH, this was a shock. All of my 60 something old friends had one thing or another going on in thier lives. Some spoke of of aging or deceased parents. Still another recently was widowed. I heard all of the ups and downs of life in the few short hours that we were all together. My old friends from high school, who 40 some years ago all believed they were invincible, now realize that they are not and neither are their families. To me, this is the number one reason that I really need to attend every single Class of ’67 party that might come up in the future. None of us will live forever and the partying together and staying in contact must remain a priority!!
I was humbled by my classmates’ comments on my MRSA work. I am not used to this kind of attention, and at times it is a little uncomfortable for me. I have been a obscure retired “old” nurse for a while now. Truthfully, I feel that my MRSA work is simply put, nursing. I don’t work as an RN anymore. But, I think that once you become a nurse, you are always a nurse. So, in my own way, I am caring for my family, my classmates and my friends and a ton of strangers. I am trying my best to make hospitals safer for everbody, and that is really just form of nursing. So, I guess I am not retired…yet!
Anne our party hostess said, “Kick ass Kathy!”
If that is what it takes to make all our hospitals safer and cleaner, you can count on it Anne!
Thank you to my classmates for this great party and for recognizing my work.
