Argentina 2009

I have been back in Argentina for a few days, and even though it is my place of birth I no longer feel it as my home. It is just the place where I grew up and where family and some good friends live.
Nevertheless this year will have a special meaning as we have been planning a school reunion. Many of us have not seen each other in 35 years, a long time, at least in our lifetime, because we all are are in our early fifties. My grandfather used to say that in the mind of those who leave the ones who stay don’t age. That is a true statement, although not true in reality, unless you are John Lennon, John F. Kennedy or any other famous personality who will always stay young, because they died young, and in our mind they will never age. I have already discovered what it means to face somebody one hasn’t seen in such a long period of time. Neither that person nor myself could recognize each other at the beginning. I later made a comment to my parents that I was, to a certain degree, in shock with the way the other person looked. They said that I was probably still expecting to find the same young girl that I remembered from November of ’74, to which I admitted that it was true. They then said something that is very true: “have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You have aged as well”. I never thought of that.
As far as the reunion is concerned I feel proud to have come up with the idea. And even though some people have told me that I am longing for that period, or that I don’t want to grow up, that is absolutely false, and nonsense. There are several reasons why I thought of this: One is, like I told one of my former schoolmates the other day, I have come to the conclusion that I have passed the halfway mark of my life, and that the second half will pass, or should I say is passing much quicker than the first one; two, we were the first promotion in that school, we were only six women, and six men. Of those twelve, one is no longer on this world. Due to the fact that we were so few each one has left a mark in each other. We were very united. And some have maintained friendship during all these years, but not all of us. And last but not least I was intrigued to see what had become of them. Had they married, did they have kids, what kind of careers had they pursued, etc.
One of the first persons I had spoken to during all this, and that does not live in Buenos Aires (where the reunion is taking place), that means she is coming just for this, was asking me yesterday if I felt important. The answer is NO. I am extremely happy that this is taking place. I deserve the same credit as the people who are travelling by coach for 14 hours just to be here for this. My greatest goal is that after I go back to New Jersey, where I live, that they stay in contact with each other. Some of them, as I said earlier, live far away. But some of them lived 5 or 10 minutes away from each other, and had lost contact . That is a sin. I live 5,000 miles away, and will do whatever it takes to stay in contact with them. I encouraged most, if not all of them, to become members, if they were not already, of facebook, as it gave them the opportunity to see each others photographs, have each others email, etc.
I know we will have a great time regardless of the way we look.