Diary of an Innkeeper

The reunion committee did an amazing job putting this night together. Projected on the back wall on a large screen behind the DJ was a series of past photos played on a loop throughout the night. They thought of everything, including the yearbook photo/name tag sticker we were to wear all night. Today we laughed that the typeface could have been a bit larger for us. We're aging and we all need reading glasses. A quick glance down to look at a name badge was bad enough, but leaning in close to actually read it - not good.

The cool thing about reunions is that any clicks or groups that there were 30 years ago are now gone and replaced by just one big group - called "Our Graduating Class". The talking, the laughing, the singing and dancing, the evening was filled with everything you could want and left us not wanting it to end. Luckily it didn't have to. The committee had planned that everyone should get together this afternoon at the Nutley High School football game. There we would wear the T-shirts we were given the night before and at half-time everyone would go to the Elks Club for hot dogs and beer. It was fun!

After half-time I realized that I should get on the road for the 3 1/2 hour trip back upstate to the inn. On the way to my car, I walked past the high school and decided to see if the front doors were unlocked. They were. I hadn't been inside in 30 years. As I walked through the hallways it was if time had never passed. I still remember where my old locker was and across from that was the class where I took Steno. I wonder what is being taught in that class now. Not Steno I'm sure! Back then we listened to albums, we wore platform shoes, earth shoes and bell bottoms, classic rock was just plain rock, we had mood rings and pukka shells, we loved vests, we watched Charlies Angels and Happy Days, it was the birth of disco and the death of Elvis. It was a simpler time for all of us.

My life as an innkeeper is very different from my life in NJ. Although I would never trade a moment of my life now, the nostalgia that I feel when I am with my old high school friends is very strong. There were several people that came long distances to attend the reunion. With over 130 in attendance, some came from as far as California, Vermont, Florida, Oregon, Virginia, and one even as far as Hong Kong. I want to thank the committee for such a great job and I am looking forward to the next one in 5 years. Although 5 years seems like a long time, I am sure that it will fly by, considering that the last 30 went by in a blink of an eye.

Thank you to the Nutley High School Class of 79!