ICE BREAKER JAM (WEDNESDAY, JULY 2)

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Memoirs of an attendee

Walking across the wooden bridge onto the patio by the Waterfall pool, my family and I joined reunion attendees sitting around small tables draped with Jamaican madras tablecloths.  Across the terrace, kids were playing - blowing soap bubbles or shooting basketball hoops.

We were called over to the reunion registration table where my kids were given bubbles of their own and they hurried off to join the others - kids have that way about them.  Once registered, we settled ourselves in the midst of the group. 

There were people arriving every 15 minutes or so, which gave each new person time to greet the others before a new set arrived.  Those present spanned about 10 years at Belair – prep schoolers or high schoolers from 1969 through 1980.  Excitement was high as we introduced ourselves around.  Even if we were not classmates, some were siblings of classmates, many had had the same teachers or remembered the same incidents at school.  The air was charged and filled with outbursts of laughter as we shared school memories and caught up on other schoolmates who one of us may have been in touch with in recent years. 

Throughout the evening we snacked on fruit and cheese platters, chicken wings and steaming hot fries.  Red Stripe Beer, Kola Champagne, Ting and fruit smoothies were the favored drinks.  By 11pm we were still chatting and the kids were still playing.  I took a moment to look around at the serene, moonlit night and realized that I was actually on vacation – no work tomorrow, no cell phone to ring, the cool sea breeze rustling the bamboo plants near the pool.

How does the saying go?   Ye-a-h, this is the life!