Update 8-15-06

Hi,

Some notes that have been accumulating.

First, From Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  It's too hot to handle!  South's administration just told me that the school will be closed tomorrow night since the air conditioning cannot be on.  Therefore, I have no choice but to cancel the Alumni Association meeting on August 3rd.  I'll let you know if another meeting date can be arranged for this month.  Meanwhile, stay cool and drink plenty of water.

    [Rich -- But not too much water.  It turns out that over-hydrating can make you as sick as dehydrating -- and doctors have problems making a diagnosis.  So keep it at about 16 ounces an hour.]
   
    Second, also from Emily:  More and more classes are inviting other classes to help them celebrate.  Sounds like fun to me.  So the Last Lido Beach Party reminder:  Please join us for a Lido Beach get-together on Sunday, August 13th, from 10:00 AM to sundown.  Bring your own food and drink.  The barbecue will be going all day.  And there will be a banner on one of the Lido "mushrooms" saying Valley Stream South Reunion.  That will help locate the group.  And pass the word that everyone is welcome.
   
    [Rich -- I know I've run this notice before, but it sure would have been nice if I'd dug Emily's reminder out of my files in time to remind all of you.  I'm really sorry.  But can someone who went to the gathering, please write and tell the rest of us how much fun it was?  And what about the group that was going to the Peter, Paul, and Mary concert?]
   
    Third, from Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Mammogram results excellent.  Nine years cancer-free survivor.  Whew and woo hoo!  Now just another 364 days and 23 hours until next year's test.  Don't ever hesitate to get a mammogram.  Men, too.  It saved my life and could save yours.
   
    Fourth, from Paul Zegler:  I'm doing great.  Just down to a cane for support, and hopefully within a month-to-six weeks, I should be walking with no help.  Looking forward to it.
   
    Fifth, culture notes from Amy Miller in Pennsylvania:  Just saw two incredible local productions here in the Lehigh Valley: Carousel and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.  When I moved here from New York City, I was totally blown away by the shows at Muhlenberg College's theater department and what was then Allentown College's.  It's now DeSales University.  Great theater, great prices, and great parking.
   
    Also from Barbara:  Your Kennedy note reminded me of something that happened at a local restaurant.  The place serves a very nice Greek salad with a house dressing.  But after I ordered it, the young waitress dropped a packet of ranch dressing next to my plate.  When I reminded her that I'd asked for the salad with house dressing, she picked up the packet, examined the name, and announced that Ranch was a house.
   
    Three weeks delayed from Judy Hartstone in Seattle, so these weather notes may no longer apply:  Everyone else in the country is having summer.  Why can't we?  It was supposed to be in the seventies today, but I shivered through an outdoor lunch.  Now I'm home with a sweatshirt over a polo shirt, and I had to turn the heat on.  Totally bizarre.  But it's supposed to get into the eighties this weekend, so I shouldn't complain.
   
    From Les Glasser:  To get more people to contribute to the newsletter, and to keep up interest, I think our classmates should submit a brief resume of their lives, including what they've done, maybe some special place they've visited, a little about their families, and where and what their retirement will be about.  This will give us all something to think about and respond to.  Hearing about the teachers in similar way might also be interesting.  Then you could run maybe one or two of these quick bios per newsletter.
   
    [Rich -- Great idea.  I could also use the new bios to update the old ones on our home page.  Roz Minsky Bobrow and others keep pointing out that these bios were written for the 37th reunion in 2002.]
   
    From Linda Cohen Greenseid:  About people who some of us don't know writing in:  Some of us were very shy while we were at South and perhaps did not contribute much at that time.  This newsletter gives us a chance to contribute now, and sometimes valuable information regarding health, travels, and colleges is conveyed by people from other classes.  Very few people knew me in high school, and I guarantee that if they did, they would not know me now.  Sometimes, it's worth meeting the same people at a different time in their lives.
   
    From Lynn Nudleman Villagran:  Jerry's note got some good responses.
   
    From Robin Feit Baker:  I think we owe Jerry Bittman a big thank you and a thunderous round of applause.  His comments stimulated participation from people we've missed hearing from -- a beautiful thing indeed.
   
    From Jerry Bittman:  Hey, I'm glad that I was at least capable of awakening some people.
   
    From Ryki Zuckerman '66:  The reunion newsletter has been helpful, not only to your graduating class, but also to mine.
   
    From Irene Saunders Goldstein:  I've loved being part of our class again, especially without exams.
   
    From Marc Jonas, on an entirely different subject:  Saw Lake Tahoe last month for the first time.

    Finally, again sent by Barbara Blitfield Pech, though the actual author is unknown -- at least to us:
        Old age, I've decided, is a gift.  I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body!  I sometime despair over my body ... the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt.  And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I don't agonize over those things for long.  I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, and my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.  As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself and less critical of myself.  I've become my own friend.  I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need but which looks so avant garde on my patio.  I am entitled to overeat, to be messy, and to be extravagant.  I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon, before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.  Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?  I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60s and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.  I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the bikini set.  They, too, will get old.  I know I am sometimes forgetful, but, there again, some of life is just as well forgotten ... and I eventually remember the important things.  Sure, over the years my heart has been broken.  How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when a beloved pet gets hit by a car?  But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.  A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.  I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turn gray and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many people have never laughed, and so many others have died before their hair could turn silver.  I can say "no," and mean it.  I can say "yes," and mean it.  As you get older, it is easier to be positive because you care less about what other people think.  I don't question myself anymore.  I've even earned the right to be wrong.  So to answer your question, I like being old ... it has set me free.  I like the person I have become.  I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been or worrying about what will be.  And I shall eat dessert every single day.