At noon the phone rang and it was Justin. My stomach always does a little flip when he calls during the day cause I know something is up. Sure enough. His class reunion was cancelled so now he and Kaoru are not coming home after all. I told him they should still come and we'd have a great weekend together, but no. Disappointed, we suggested they come in August. We'll see. My guess is that we won't see him till Thanksgiving.
A storm front was due to move through the area so I swam early and frantically with my eye on the sky during the backstroke. The whole time I was thinking of alternative plans for him. But the problem is that we have no say in those decisions. We just want fun time together in summertime while we are still healthy and active and not drooling on our bibs.
Just as I was to reenter the pool for the second set, I got a call from the daughter of our classmate who died on July 4. She could barely speak without crying, after all, her mom passed away only three days ago. We talked about how much her mom enjoyed the last reunion in 2012. Arriving in a wheelchair, she didn't let that slow her down. All through the evening, classmates visited and laughed with her.
The daughter explained that the family wants to make the Class of 67 the recipient of memorial gifts in honor of her mother. Her mom was so proud of the yearly awards we make at graduation that they want to contribute to help students at FHS. What a generous, selfless act. A dear friend, her grieving daughter and granddaughter, make a decision in her final days to make a difference in the lives of our students.
And so I was crying again and feeling ashamed of being disappointed over our son's cancelled plans. But, I also felt very proud that our classmates are so caring, for each other and our community.
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