I have a invitation to the 50th anniversary class reunion at Northern High School where I graduated in 1967.  The reunion is to be held the third weekend in October.  The fall calendar is quite full for me and I will not be able to attend.  I’ve carried the invitation around in my briefcase for several months.  I need to send my RSVP with regrets.

Like others with whom I have spoken with High School was not a time in my life that is remembered with many positive memories.  Those were years of struggle, mainly for personal reasons that had nothing to do with my classmates, or the teachers who in the main, did their best.  I survived high school.  Yet, there are enough good memories to fill my heart with gratitude.  I remember pep rallies in the gym.  I recall hearing the Beatles song “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” covered by a garage band of three classmates at a pep rally.  They called themselves, The Castaways. Strangely that was a life changing moment for me.  A turning point takes us by surprise, sneaking up, and holding us in its grasp from that point on.  I knew from that moment that music was to be a lifeline for me, that the certitude of belonging to my place and time, and to others can be found in the lyric and tune of a song.  I have proven that to be true over and over until now.

My invitation letter informed me that the old school building is to be torn down in a year or two.  A new Northern High School will rise in the place of the one which the class of 67 attended.

I offer for your enjoyment a pop anthem which is played often on the radio.  The lyric is a retrospective on the pre-adult years of our youth.  A special relationship with a female is remembered.  Recalled is that paradoxical sensation of the immediacy of “now or never” juxtaposed with the illusion of never ending time.

• As always the lyrics follow the youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Tj5gLcSVI

“Summer Of ’69”

  by Bryan Adams

I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it ’til my fingers bled
Was the summer of ’69

Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard.
Jimmy quit, Jody got married
I should’ve known we’d never get far

Oh, when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah, I’d always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life

Ain’t no use in complainin’
When you’ve got a job to do
Spent my evenings down at the drive-in
And that’s when I met you, yeah

Standin’ on your mama’s porch
You told me that you’d wait forever
Oh, and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life

Oh, yeah.
Back in the summer of ’69, oh.

Man we were killin’ time
We were young and restless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothin’ can last forever, forever, no! yeah!

And now the times are changin’
Look at everything that’s come and gone
Sometimes when I play that old six-string
I think about you, wonder what went wrong

Standin’ on your mama’s porch
You told me that it’d last forever
Oh, and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life

Oh, yeah.
Back in the summer of ’69, oh.
It was the summer of ’69, oh, yeah.
Me and my baby in ’69, oh.
It was the summer, the summer, the summer of ’69, yeah.