SHERMAN, Texas, July 1, 2006— I like to put at least one entry for each month here. For old time's sake. And to keep some order to the thing abandoned in case I decide to revive it.

Today was the first day of several of nostalgia. We started out with a drive to Dallas, picking up my dad at his house. We timed our arrival at a far north Dallas house perfectly. I chose to drive all the way up I-35 to 635 and then head east. I think it's probably faster to scoot over to Central (25/75) and up but I wanted to see what was along that stretch. For old times' sake. Years ago even 635 didn't exist, of course, and I had to go to Mesquite from

Denton by going to the interchange just south of downtown Dallas.

We marveled at the 635/Central interchange which is both an amazing jumble of spaghetti roads and nicely decorated with stripes and stars. The application of paint to the stars and the stripes makes this a great looking mass of concrete. I didn't get a picture. But then I was driving.

We visited for a couple of hours with relatives over barbeque and snacks. It's strange to be at the home of one my cousin's children. My cousin and I were little kids together and sometimes we talk about those old times. Today, however, we were in the present. Talking about fine dining and travel and other things we have developed a taste for in the decades since we were small.

Then we headed for Sherman. I graduated from high school in Sherman. I moved there when I was about ten. So I lived there only eight years. I got to take a couple of trips after I graduated. One to Pensacola, Florida. My first airplane ride. One to California. My first road trip in a VW bug. One to the Ozarks with my best friend and her parents. During one of these trips my mother packed us to move to Mesquite. I never really lived there too much, however, because I went off to college. So I'd light at the house in Mesquite for brief periods after that until I moved to Austin in '75. I really sort of lost contact with Sherman. And with most of the other three hundred plus graduates in my class. FFP and I went for the 20th Reunion and I reconnected with a few people.

We found our way to Sherman and the Comfort Suites. After getting checked in, finding some coffee and resting a little it was time to go to the big reunion dance. When we went out to get in our car, I saw some other couples about our age getting in cars. I didn't recognize them.

We arrived early. I immediately recognized one of the cheerleaders. She looked so much the same, only she had gray hair. My mission was to reconnect with my best friend from junior high and high school. She was also my roommate for my first year or two at college. [Ed. note: Your memory of exact times is murky at best, isn't it? You can't remember when you first met your friends nor when the drifting apart began.]

I talked to a few early arrivals. It was still possible at that point to get up close and stare at the grainy yearbook pictures and names on the name tags. My good friend arrived with two other gals I'd been close to in high school...Linda and Lynda. After that I paid some attention to food and drink and watched the slide show and talked to a few others. But mostly I talked to my old friend. A good and great sleep over buddy from, especially, junior high was there. She looked great. But I mostly talked to my friend Peggy. There wasn't enough time to catch up on all our history. We were together so much, hanging out at one house or the other or going places with one set of parents or the other, that we were like sisters only with two sets of family. She'd had a lot of history since, some of it painful. And I had gone my own path. Dealt with my own demons and dreams and growing up Of our parents, only my dad is still alive. Everyone was four decades down life's path. She looked great, though. I wish the forty years had been so kind to me!

Before I knew it, the event was over. I hadn't even talked to some people and some I hadn't even spied in the crowd. [Later posted pictures revealed that some people had aged beyond my recognition. Particularly one guy whom I seemed to remember mostly from elementary school.]

I've got to admit it: I felt a little uncomfortable and lost in the group of about 150 classmates and spousal units or SOs. More so than I had at my 20th. I can't say why. I seemed to be spinning back to high school when I was always uncomfortable and shy and masked it with hijinks that everyone seems to remember more clearly than I do. It's also weird that some people came to this reunion and not the last one. It was a different group with some overlap. My 'local' classmates, those who live in or close to Sherman, did a bangup job of throwing a party. A band of our classmates even took the stage...an amazing achievement forty years on.