Friday, October 11, 2019 - First Day of our 45th Class Reunion

Friday, October 11, 2019 - First Day of our 45th Class Reunion

1974 Oswego High School Class Reunion

Mark & Chris Brannin's Home

Front row - Debbie Moss Smith; Connie Barrett Jones, Jamie Stephens Gott, Penny Johnston Rousseau

Second row - Denise Dawson Sherman; Susie Vitousek Coman; Melanie Taylor McLaughlin, Cheryel Cross, Cheri Blackledge Peine

Third Row:  Ron Wellington; Bill Jacobs; Mark Brannin, Ron Eddington, Doug Sevart

It was 41 when I checked the thermostate this morning and only 59 inside.  We slept well, but I had to turn up the fireplace when I came downstairs to get it warmed up.   After our morning coffee, we braved the cold and headed to the park to walk.  It's that time of year that we are just going to have to put up with cold weather if we want to get outdoors for some exercise.  I put on my thermal pants and shirt, jeans and flannel shirt over them, my thick socks, then my jacket and my stocking cap/gloves.  Yes it was that cold!  The wind was really strong this morning.

Toby's Amusements has started bringing in rides for Oswegofest tomorrow.  

The flag flew under a heavy wind the entire time we walked this morning.  Brrrr!

When we returned from our walk, we had our breakfast shakes and Dean headed to the garage.  I showered, straightened things up, then made a list of what I needed to do today.  

With my list made I headed to the bank to get some change if we needed it for our dinner on Saturday evening.  Other stops included the City Office to pick up the keys for the Community Center on Saturday, the Dollar Store for a couple of things I needed, and finally the grocery store for lunchmeat and milk.  

I made an appointment earlier today with the chiropractor for 11:30.  I had time to run everything back to Bentley, and put things away.  I still had about 25 minutes, so I drove to the garage to see what Dean has been up to.  Everytime I walk in I am amazed at what else he has done.  The garage looks great - and now I remember why it looked huge when we bought it.  After we brought everything over from storage it was so full downstairs.  He has since arranged things, built shelving upstairs for all of the storage tubs we had, and arranged now everything has its place.  Or as he says, where he wants it for now.  That is always subject to change.  Then we walked out on the lot to talk about our ideas on location, removing trees, etc.  We've got quite a bit of time to talk about the layout but it's good to give much thought to it before final decisions are made.

I left soon afterwards for my appointment.  I have to admit while I usually feel better immediately as the day goes on I sometimes feel pretty sore, and today I even wondered will I really feel better tomorrow.  I wanted to get the blog posted for the past two days.  I just needed to proof it before doing so, and fortunately I got it done. Dean came home for lunch and another round of "Gunsmoke".  I asked him if he would clean the car out this afternoon, so he took it back to the garage with him.

I sent a text to my best friend Cheryel to see if she wanted to stop by later.  She drove from near Corpus Christi, TX to visit with her mom, two brothers David & Richard, and her sister-in-law Lou before the reunion.  She came by a little while later and we had a really nice visit for an hour or two.  She left to get ready for our first class reunion event this evening, as did Dean and I, after she headed back to her brother's.

I told Dean I needed to use the restroom before we left, and no more than I did, there was a knock on the door.  Dean answered it and I heard someone ask if Cheri was here.  He said she just stepped in the restroom but she'll be out in a minute.  They visited and I finally recognized the voice - it was one of my classmates, Melanie.  I didn't think to ask her at the time how she knew we were here, as we were both actually getting ready to leave for Mark's.  Later I found out they pulled their 5th wheel to Oswego for the weekend and are parked just a few sites down from us.  How cool is that?  My cousin Todd had told her I was here in the park.  

We picked Cheryel up at her brother's and then we headed east of Altamont and then south to Mark & Chris' home.  There were already several people there and others were driving up right after us.  Mark and Chris have a beautiful home and they really put on the welcome for us.  

 See the Class Reunion Sign Above.

Napkins commemorating our 45th anniversary.

Mark in his shirt - Class of 1974!

They also had a sign for 1974 on their refrigerator - telling about things that happened in 1974, such as top songs, cost of a house, who the current President was, etc.  It was really interesting to look over and I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it.  I think the average income was $13,900.  Can you imagine living on that today?

Our graduating class of 1974 - all 36 of us.  Since our graduation we have lost six classmates.

Mark and Chris know how to throw a party!  The meal was amazing!  I'm sorry the rest of our classmates missed it.  Mark smoked pulled pork and chicken.  The sides included cheesy potatoes, a wonderful coleslaw/ramen noodle salad, meaty baked beans and rolls.  In addition we had cookies, cheesecake and fudge to choose from for our desserts.  There was also a wonderful dip  with pretzels available before the meal was served.  

Three of our classmates brought their siblings with them.  They were all in the same class while in High School as well.  In a small school like Oswego, we knew the students in the classes ahead of us and the classes who were behind us.  It was great to see them as well.  Robin (Penny's sister), Karen (Melanie's sister) and Donnie (Denise's brother) all attended.  It was fun to catch up with each of them as well.

We visited from the time we arrived, through dinner, while taking pictures and for a few hours afterwards.  We finally left around 10:30pm.  Thankfully, my neck really started feeling better shortly before we left and by the time we left I'd forgotten if ever hurt!

It was a good start to our weekend together.  I hope all of you had an equally wonderful day.