“I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends . . . ” — Ricky Nelson
1) June has been busier than expected — and will continue to be — but I wanted to make time for the Quarter Century Club’s annual summer barbecue, which I had not yet attended. When I return to campus now it’s just to Medical in Kendall Square, but this was back at Johnson Athletic in the center of things — so in a way, it felt like coming home. (I can just hear the late Addison DeWitt: “A dull cliché.”)
1a) Coming home on the Number One bus on Mass Ave (it seems the CT1 has been discontinued), which was at least less than half full. But someone had left a potato on one of the seats. What on earth?
2) At the campus entrance I saw a young man sitting on the steps of 77 Mass Ave with a sign that read FREE LISTENING. And I thought “We really need that.”
3) I breezed into Johnson Athletic right at the advertised start time of 5:00 PM to find about 100 people already there milling about the bar near the door. And exactly no one I knew, which was the experience I had at the holiday party last December. Then I didn’t even stay for dinner. This time I wasn’t quite sure whether I’d stay or not, but after a glass of chardonnay, I felt a barbecue dinner would not come amiss.
3a) Sometimes there’s a reason a buffet line is empty, and in this case it’s ’cause it was for the vegetarians and vegans.
3b) Johnson Athletic will always mean the Technology Day Luncheon to me, the annual assembly of alumni of all classes. The room takes on a different, more impressive aspect then, with its navy curtains drawn over all the windows and screening the bleachers, the class banners running down one side of the room, beautifully appointed tables, and the hubbub of people. This evening it felt more spacious with the curtains pulled back to let in the sunlight, the bright tablecloths, fewer people and more available floor space. And of course I was not sitting near a podium with a copy of the president’s speech or up in the sound booth as Voice of God — I could just relax!
4) I sat alone — Mother taught me not to talk to strangers — and before long an old Association colleague brought over his plate and we caught up on the sorts of things you catch up on at these affairs: what’s going on at the office, vacation plans, news of old colleagues, and how the children are doing.
4a) One of my old volunteers was there, too, a very active alumna, and we got to catch up briefly when she stopped by my table. Which led to another old colleague finding us and joining our table.
5) It’s poor form to leave before the remarks, but I wasn’t going to stay for the dancing (!). When the talking was over, I began making my way toward the exit — and ran into a cache of colleagues (not from the Association), which ended up in a lot of good talk — which is exactly why these sorts of gatherings are important.
5a) A familiar face almost made a bee line for me while I was talking animatedly with a friend. That familiar face was the daughter of one of my favorite volunteers from a class in the late 1950s, who asked to take a picture to send to her mother. And I remember her mother, that whole family really, with pleasure. At the 2019 reunion I can remember joking, a propos of I can’t remember what, “Of course you’ll be propped up in bed with your pink marabou bed jacket having them bring you silver dishes of sherbet,” and they howled with laughter, because that was exactly how she did things.
6) It’s interesting to hear what people are doing. Not everyone has retired; several are still working full time at ye Instytytte, but not always in the same jobs. Someone is now an usher at Symphony Hall. Someone else has formed a community of friends at one of the casinos. Others are involved in taking care of family members. All of them want to maintain the relationships they formed here.
7) I walked from campus along Mass Ave all the way to Mass Ave Station on an evening of glittering spring weather, a walk I used to take often. By the time I reached the Christian Science Church, I realized I was thinking of the the overture to Pretty Lady, the musical-within-the-musical of 42nd Street. I used to send that clip every year to everyone on the team at some point in the week before Reunions (“They’ve got to like you, got to . . . and keep that head on those shoulders of yours, and Sawyer — you’re going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a STAR!”). Hear it here, starting at 00:28.) And last year was the last year I did. In only five years the entire team as changed.
8) And after five years I’m adjusting to my new role in the community as a retiree, and that’s pleasant.
Some things never change, thank goodness.