Dear Judi,

 I just wanted to say how nice it was to see you at the reunion. I know the kind of effort that goes into arranging such things and you and the committee are to be commended for a job well done. As it has been twenty years since my last reunion I was a little worried that I would remember no one and, even more frightening on a personal level, that no one would remember me. Admittedly, it took me awhile with faces, but as soon as I heard the voices it all came back. It's funny that voices never change, and nor do smiles.
It was so good to see friends that I had been close to in the 60s, but it was also sad to learn that some close friends that I had hoped to see could not make it. People often wonder why do reunions at all? We  all know that we can't go back in time, but that's okay. Reunions are not just about linking with specific people, because if we wanted to do that they are only a phone call or email away. Reunions are more about tradition and attending them is simply a way for each of us to say that the people of our past are important to us; all the people, not just some.
For example, I spoke with a number of people at the reunion that I barely knew in high school, but that mattered little. We relived memories of elementary school, laughing about teachers who were older than sin to us then, but who we now know must have been no more than forty. I also spoke with folk who I never knew at all, but that didn't matter either. These individuals proudly showed me photos of their cute grandchildren and I admired them as much as I would my own. One wonders just why so many people would come halfway across a country merely to spend five or six hours walking down memory lane with people whom they meet but once a decade? To me the answer is easy. We do so because the people and places of our past really are important. Having Don Gillespie tap me  on the opposite shoulder, reciting the Gettysburg address in concert with Mike Havern, reminiscing about English muffin pizza pies with Sandy Cramer, rememberingg "Night of the Living Dead" with Lester  Mackey, or reliving demerits earned in the "Army Club" with John Brittell. Where else can I go for such memories? Where else on this planet do bonds such as this exist?
Reunions are celebrations of time spent together. We have so little time in our lives and each has gone his or her separate ways, but for some reason unbeknownst to us we were all thrown together into the same mass of humanity in our youths. Each of has been impacted by those with whom we grew up, whether good or bad, and reunions are recognitions of such.  Making the effort to come together says we care about those who happened to share our past. At the same time, reunions help us form new bonds and even help guide and strengthen our future. No one can  say just where we will be ten years from now, or even if we will be here, but as long as there are reunions then we recognize that we are all in it together.
Thanks to you and to the committee overall for realizing just how  important these events are in our lives.
Cheers, 
Ian