Old Men at Lunch: Eight of us at a round table, an annual affair, now sixty-six years after we went to high school together. We are, as individuals, quite separate in our lives, friends, interests, marriages, health, and more. Our bond is “Class of 1958.” Of the 50 who graduated with us, 10 are gone.
We tell stories, some of which were told in previous years. We’ve lived through an age of fast-moving technology, medicine, and more, the pace of which is accelerating. 1940s first small-screen TV sets to 2020s digital wonders. The state of medicine today versus for our parents, most of whom died before the age we are now. We talked about the Apple Watch and how its ability to call 911 if we fall seemed a good reason to wear one.
And there was a long discussion of what things were like when we were young compared to now. Issues of community, safety. We played outdoors in our neighborhoods until dinnertime. We walked or rode our bikes down sidewalks into other parts of town, shopping and office areas, parks. Absent were all the ways we keep close tabs on one another today.
Some saw differences in relationships and communication of us to our parents compared to our children to us, and them to their children. No judgement, just differences.
After lunch, I walked to my car, wondered who would be at the table next year.
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