40 Years - No way!

By Cindy Meyers
Posted Monday, July 2, 2007

On a personal note I attended my 40th class reunion June 29th and 30th. Graduated with 120 people and we have only had seven who are deceased. This was the first time I had gone to one of these reunions in 15 years. I was surprised with how many people came and even more surprised at how many states we all now live in. To me it seems like only yesterday our biggest worry was when we would get our drivers license and who was dating who. Today the big discussion is not only who many children everyone has but how many grandchildren. Everyone is talking about retirement.

Wait a minute! Retire! Folks I still feel as young as I did when I was 30 and if I don't look in a mirror I don't even look old! I am having way too much fun working to think about retirement. Listening to everyone talk I realized how lucky I have been. God has really blessed me. I have a great husband and I work every day of my life with cowboys and cowgirls. When I was little I would watch Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and all the other great cowboys on TV and dream of being just like them. I went to rodeos and I was positive I would be the next world champion barrel racer. When I got big I found out cowboys don't live in old Western towns any more and riding a horse in a rodeo arena takes a lot more than just getting on and saying giddy up. I still love the cowboy way of life. I think that is what being a fan is all about. We get to be a part of it the lifestyle even if we can't all be in the arena competing.

I still can't believe that that the kids in my class are now better known as grandma and grandpa. One thing I am sure of. The ideals we learned back then are as important today as they were the day we graduated. I know that although the three r's (reading, 'riting and rithmatic) are still important, the fourth one is the one that needs to be taught the most. Respect! The teachers taught it to us and it is the r that probably served us all the most over the last 40 years. Reality shows are great and computer skills are wonderful but in the good ol' days we had our westerns to watch and teachers that taught us to respect ourselves and others and armed with that knowledge we were ready for the world. As I walked out of my reunion I said a silent thank you to all those dedicated men and women who put up with my classmates and me for 13 long years. I think they would be proud of us!