Welcome

JUST WHY DO WE COME TO REUNIONS?

A ROMANTIC'S LAMENT

The Marlboro Man may have thought this mushy, but there is no getting around it. We reunite with our classmates for the same reasons we unite occasionally with family members...to visit and valuate the roots of our lives, the formative years, and in this case, the history of the graduating class of 1967. We do it with a bash! We don't do it in formals and in limos, not in tiaras and tuxes, not to boast of our accomplishments nor to brandish our shiny baubels, but in sandals and shorts and gaudy Hawaiian shirts. According to some of the messages floated about, we want a party!...A party that is not with royalty (although most of 'our' women could be "Queen For a Day"...any day.), but with genuine interest and friendship to share life's journey for each one of us...with open hearts, open arms, and acceptance.

Through nostalgic activities, curiosity in other's history, and our own introspection, we reconnect
with our classmates to discover the common thread that binds all communities...we are, in varying degrees, a part of each other's lives.

After graduation, we took a ride on the river of life...some in canoes, rafts, inner tubes etc. Of course, some required yachts, others used cruise ships. Some were assigned to P.T. boats to go upriver...a few, never to return. Some of us booked a tour on the 'S.S. Minnow' and chose to stay and enjoy the still, peaceful waters of the Pecos. Fewer still chose to take a side trip up to Santa Fe and enjoy the comforts of the 'Big House Bed 'n Breakfast'.

Now, we choose---to share our life or not. It really doesn't matter how we got here! The main objective is to arrive!...to be here!...to celebrate together that which binds us (some closer than others) to the roots we have at Carlsbad High School, to our desert town, and to our classmates of the Class of '67!

Grace our lives with your presence. Please take time to celebrate! Park your 'sailing' vessel momentarily, whatever it may be, at the Carrousel House on the Pecos. Join us in saluting and feasting those of us who've made the trip this far...and in honoring in somber remembrances of those who did not. To some of us, destiny burdened with challenges on this river-of-life journey. We have seen some rough waters, full of sadness and hardships...perhaps to make us tough for the challenges which we hardly deserve. Others have not been so lucky---they were handed silver spoons with which to row their cumbersome ships. We are a community of friends, though.

To all who decide to come to this festive rendezvous, we pledge an effort to make this sweet meeting, a moment in our lives that will last a long time. (We cannot say 'unforgettable' because the years are creeping up on us, no?

The "STUCK IN THE SIXTIES BAND" will provide music...our old music...to dance to. Let your hair down (those that have it!) and enjoy. In-between the bouts of this music madness...somewhere!...there will be opportunities to, very quietly, share with a "significant other' the romance and tenderness of a summer evening by the Pecos...to the notes of Blue Velvet, Crazy by Patsy Cline, or The Beatles' Yesterday... maybe remembering the awkward embraces of our youth...the early visits to the Fiesta or Big Sky drive-in, Werewolf Hill? Wildcat Bluff? the cotton fields of Old Cavern Highway? C Hill? the hayloft in the barn? the flumes? Who knows where this may lead?...Or we could just sit at home, drink a Bud and watch television...re-runs of Gilligan's Island!!! Oh brother!

Some of us are at a bend on our "river tour". We can see our past progress, but our future in only an optomistic venture. Most choose to be positive of the coming years. We know there is sunshine among the clouds of uncertainty. Let us toast the past and plan to have many repeats of these memories. Come join us and share your life! The best is yet to come.