Thoughts on a High School Class Reunion

I was privileged to be able to attend my 50th high school class reunion – Chino High School, Chino, CA, class of 1961 (the one year where our class rings could be turned either way and the year still reads the same). Everybody seemed to recognize me (no one else in my class was any shorter) but I seemed to need the name tags to put the names with the faces. Most of us have aged (with a few exceptions), but what should one expect after 50 years. We were a class of 204 in 1961 – we have lost 42 of our classmates. To hear of some of their tragic deaths made me very sad – murder, suicide, traffic accidents, cancer, heart disease, stroke, and more – and even more sad especially for those deaths that would not be considered ‘natural’ causes. The number of classmates who chose not to join us also made me sad. Some of us did not feel very much a part of the whole in 1961, but in 2011 we were all one whole, enjoying each other’s company even though we had been apart for so very many years. All of the petty stuff of the teenage years was gone. An afternoon social hour, a dinner and more socializing, and a late morning brunch at our class president’s home made the weekend very special.

Going home after so many years where there is no home to go to and no family in the area is a tough one. I decided to spend some time with a former neighbor. We had tea together. Her son and wife joined us (I babysat for him when he was a little kid). We had lunch together. We reminisced and talked of everything – family, friends, church, school, neighbors and anything else we could think of. This visit really helped bridge the lack of family as we had so many friends in common. I can never catch up with the last 50 years that I have been away, but I do know a little more about old friends than I did before I made the trip.

Again, I spent a little time driving around the area, trying to find old haunts, homes, and landmarks. As with everyplace, this little place in the sun has definitely changed – a LOT – since 1961. It has even changed a lot since my parents passed away and changed since I was home in 2001 for my 40th HS reunion. Life was simpler 50 years ago. People weren’t in such a hurry. We took more time to just be with friends and visit. Everyone has someplace to go and something to do today and there is no time for just ‘being’. My few days at ‘home’ gave me some for just ‘being’ – being with friends, renewing old acquaintances, and just relaxing without the daily pressures of my convoluted life.

Thank you to all my classmates who joined us for a great weekend. Thank you to my friends who made time for me to just visit and relax and be with them and catch up on everything. Thank you to my husband who again let me go and ‘be’. There are plans for another reunion – perhaps earlier than five years. I don’t know whether I will go or not, but I do know this 50th reunion will be a very good memory for a very long time.

Lenten Thoughts

I was asked to give a 'testimony' during the worship service on March 20, 2011. As one who is NOT comfortable at all with demonstrative effusions on my faith, the following is what I ultimately stated.

Thoughts on God’s Presence in my life:

Some of us can stand on the street corner and proclaim our faith. Others of us can pray with confidence in public. And others of us can put our faith in erudite words as a verbal testimony. I don’t feel comfortable doing any of those things.

I come from a Dutch Reformed background and generations of psalm singers. I attended a Christian elementary school and a Christian college. I learned early and throughout my formative years to SING my faith. The words of the hymns and psalms of my youth are firmly imprinted on my brain. I feel closest to God and most uplifted either when singing or listening to the glorious music of the church. In times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of stress or in times of relaxed pleasure, I chose to sing my faith.

One hymn speaks my faith loudly and clearly – even to the point that I had it sung at the memorial services for both of my parents and will request that it be sung at mine too – Our God Our Help in Ages Past.

I invite you to join me in a testament to my faith and yours as we lift our voices in praise to the Almighty singing together Psalm 90, Hymn #210, Our God Our Help in Ages Past. Hear the words. Let them speak to you as they speak to me. May you feel God’s eternal love and eternal presence in your life – our guide while life shall last and our eternal home.

Lenten Testimony
March 20, 2011
Betty Kooy

1. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2. Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
3. A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
4. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.
5. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while life shall last,
And our eternal home.

QUIT Moving My Cheese!!!!!

Alright, already! Enough is enough. I don’t want any more changes in my life!
January 2011 – life seemed pretty normal other than rotten computer problems at work, but at least we dealt with it. BUT, on February 5 everything seemed to fly apart. Vern broke his right leg in several places slipping down the front steps early in the morning. A call to friends and the recommendation to call 911 got him to the hospital. At 2pm on a Saturday afternoon he was in surgery and was plated, screwed, wired and casted together with the lovely words ‘ absolutely no weight-bearing on that leg for 6-8 weeks’. UGH! He got a lovely room in the hospital, but by Tuesday, February 8, he was moved to the Acute Rehab Unit – to try to get strong enough and used to hopping on one leg and dealing with everything that comes with an unusable limb. In the meantime Grandson Soeren Aberdeen Kooy Codel was born on Monday, February 7. Grammy had promised Liz that she would come to Chicago and help with the family for a week. So she left Vern in the hospital to be taken care of by an excellent staff and made her way on the train to Chicago.

In the meantime, we are being asked how are you going to get Vern home and keep him safe? How do you get him into the house? First solution – a ramp. Bless the swim team friends who volunteered to build the ramp. Next solution – room in the house to maneuver a wheel chair and walker. Again, bless the ramp builders. Next solution – a cleaner house. Bless the new hired help who is absolutely FABULOUS! So…ramp up to house, bunches of stuff thrown out to make room for the rehab stuff, other stuff moved or put in place to make mobility safe. Check! So as of March 1, Vern is home. But who knows where the majority of my cheese is? I am so much a creature of habit that things just don’t feel right.

The work cheese is getting moved big time too – not yet, but soon. I am not anticipating any of the changes. It is not that I can’t change. I just don’t think we need to change just because someone thinks they have to make changes just because…! Nobody who has been dealing with the new changes is liking the changes and they are not going smoothly. I am frustrated already listening to the grousing. How am I going to deal when NOTHING in my workspace works like it is supposed to and I have to constantly figure out how to make things work. I already am making work-arounds for a lot of ordinary daily tasks. What will I do when everything is changed and will require a whole new set of skills/work habits?

Things changed/or caused problems since February 1:
Vern’s broken leg
Whole house rearranged
New Grandson in Chicago
Flash drive (Betty’s Brain) fails (backed-up Feb 1 but…)
Betty’s car died in hospital parking lot (luckily only a battery)

Guess I still have much to be thankful for. I have my health and my brain (what is left when I don’t feel fried). I can still get around and take care of business. But I miss having a honey-doer! It will be a while before he can honey-do again.