I have to begin by admitting that I was very hesitant about attending the reunion and almost didn’t come.  In 1971 I could not WAIT to put Macarthur in my rear view mirror. It was not that I disliked high school ,  but I was more than ready to stretch my wings. I was in a hurry for FREEDOM, and freedom I got at UT. All the freedom I wanted … to go where and when I pleased. It was heady. There were a number of us from MacArthur who lived at Jester Center that freshman year of college at UT Austin, but we essentially ignored each other. We were all busy forging new relationships and heading down new and welcome paths.   We were fledgling adults … at last. 

Then on a beautiful Saturday evening  forty years later, I was back. It started out as kind of a surreal experience. I sat out in my car for a while just watching people arrive. All of you were still frozen in my mind as you were in 1971, and one by one you started stepping out of a time warp. Oh my gosh!  There’s so and so! Or, Who is that? I was not sure how I would deal with the differences. But once in the door it was easier that I thought. Some people were instantly recognizable. Some were not. It was a bit embarrassing to have to drop my eyes down constantly to their name tags so I could find out who it was. The sheer numbers of people there were both amazing and intimidating.  But all in all, we were all glad to see each other and the atmosphere was one of joy and celebration. We were not kids anymore, who just talked to their friends and that was it. It turned out that there was not nearly enough time in the evening to get around and talk with all the people I wanted to talk with. When we left, I found myself regretting not finding a lot of people I knew were there. But truly one of the delights of the evening was having conversations with people that I never spoke a word to the entire four years of high school.  Everyone was happy to strike up a conversation.  Not enough old friendships were renewed.  Can they ever be? But plenty of new connections were made with people that I never even said hello to the entire time I was at Mac.   I guess it all balances out in the end.  That discovery of common ground was one of the delights of the evening.