A good friend suggested I post a letter that I wrote after our 30th high school reunion in 2000.  He felt that it would be a nice addition to a recent article on the Parade magazine website .  I have copied the letter below unedited from 2000.  Since that time a classmate who I was close to in high school passed away and I feel all the more guilty for not being there for him when it would have meant something.

Dear Friends,

While the memories of the reunion are still fresh I want to take a minute of your time for a small bit of philosophizing (a right granted me by the Board of Reagents of the University of Nebraska for some reason).   I don’t often do this (contrary to the opinions of my students) but I feel moved to do so by recent events here at OSU and by the emotions I felt at the reunion.  The event here was the recent death of a colleague, younger than any of us, that occurred suddenly.  At his memorial service it struck me that we were going to great lengths to praise this person when it did him the least good.  He couldn’t feel any of the admiration,  friendship, or love that was shared at the service.  It was clear that the service was about him but for us.  All the pleasant memories each had of him could not be heard by the individual that most deserved to hear them.  After that service I promised to try and be a little more open and share my feelings with the living rather than the dead.

That brings me to the reunion and the memories that it stirred within me.  I have said on more than one occasion that I have been blessed by having great friends and to me the events in St. Louis were more than a reunion but rather a celebration of those friendships.  It is hard to describe the feeling of pride and admiration that I felt in speaking with each of you about your personal and professional accomplishments.  I am fortunate to have been a small part in the lives of such accomplished individuals.  The years in which we were closest, the years at CHS, were spent in the turmoil of growing, as is the case in all teens.  Our strength often came from one another and I know I relied on many of you.  In so doing we each became part of the fabric of one another’s lives.  I’d like to think that I was there for you as often as you were there for me.  In some selfish way I feel that I became part of your lives and so I claim some tiny fraction of your success.   I know that I was closer to some of you than others and some of you may even wonder why you would be on my list.  I’m not certain I have a response except that friendships are not always linear.  For whatever reason, you each touched my life and I am grateful.  I don’t know that I have ever had better friends.

This letter may not have come out exactly as I had intended but I couldn’t let the occasion pass without some recognition.  It may be another 10 years before I see most of you again but I am certain that when we do meet I’ll have just as big a smile on my face as when I saw you last week.  I want to wish each of you all the best in the years to come and I look forward to sharing and celebrating our friendship in 2010.

Go ‘Hounds,

Steve

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