It's Almost Here! Is it really happening?

I'm sure we're all sharing the same feelings right about now; nervous anticipation, curiosity, wild emotions, incredible excitement and a sweet/sad nostalgia. I've been in an altered state ever since Gary contacted me and said he was organizing a reunion. I didn't think we could make it happen this year, and was very skeptical, which as most of you know is not my normal nature. But somehow, with everyone pulling together and working so hard for this labor of love, it's only a few days away. We have 106 attendees, far, far more than we ever thought possible. Most of them will be at the evening event so we'll be hugging, kissing, re-connecting like mad. I don't know who to kiss and hug first, so I'll take them as they come.

A big question in my mind is - what next? What happens after the reunion? Do we go back to our separate, and in many cases, anonymous lives? Or do we keep the network going, and plan other ways to bring us together (think- Omega cruise anyone?- My Mom can make that happen!).

We've all been given a great gift here - finding people that have in some ways meant as much to us as anyone else we've encountered in our lives. Some of us are gone but live on in our collective memories - that's the object of all this - we have a collective consciousness and memory where Omega still lives and breathes and we're all kids or teenagers again. Are we going to let this fade away after September? There are many reasons to believe otherwise - the website will be there and continue to improve and expand, we have each other's email addresses and contact info, and best of all, we have each other again. I never attend high school reunions - high school was not a time I look back on fondly. I went to one and everyone was there to see if they were doing better than their peers. It was horrible. That's why reunions are usually all surface and no substance. Ours will be the opposite; all substance and no surface. When we look into each other's eyes we will see ourselves for who we really are - the people we bonded with so strongly over those ten years in Woodridge, NY.

Oh, sure, there'll be signs of the forty some-odd years that we've lived, and there will be those awkward moments of saying "Oh, of course I remember you" while the name escapes us during a senior moment. But that's not what it's really about and we all know it. The weekend will be over in a microsecond, and we will be in shock when we're dropped back into our normal lives. I hope it reminds us of those precious moments we were so lucky to have had for so long.

If I had the power, I would turn back the clock to July 1965, when the first buses rolled down that long driveway from Silver Lake Road to the front of the main house. I would stand on the porch, hand in hand with my family and extended family and greet the campers all over again. Only this time, Omega would live on, to welcome our children, grand children and great grandchildren, who would look at the ancient plaques on the wall and wonder what camp was like way back then.

With love,
Artie