50th reunion regrets differ from those held in earlier years

The difference between 50th high school class reunions and those earlier — especially the 10th and 20th — is that one wakes up the morning after with a different set of regrets. Those earlier class reunions might have included morning-after embarrassment over something outrageous done or said while under the influence of substance or situation.
By the time we celebrate 50 years since high school graduation the biggest regret the next day is not having had more time to talk to this classmate or that classmate. Visiting and catching up is what we enjoy most. There’s not enough time in one evening because we all go home since it so soon gets past our bedtimes.
And so it was Saturday night at Arena One with our South Panola Class of 1966. We laughed again at some of the same stories we’ve laughed at for years, slightly embellished with each retelling. We all know what Mrs. J. R. Lewis, our first school principal, told the boys from Blackjack when they arrived in the bus that brought them from the community where their school had been closed in 1958 by consolidation: “Alright, you little boys from Blackjack! Y’all are going to have to start wearing shoes to school.”
But this time Gary Mills got to tell it in the absence of classmate and fellow son of Blackjack, Wayne Perkins, so Mills added a tidbit of his own just to make Perkins squirm when he eventually hears of it.
There’s always mention of Mrs. Lewis’ electric paddle, but this time it came in an “Ode to the South Panola Class of 1966” written by classmate Bobby Joslin. I am attempting to put the recording of it on my Facebook page where I’ve also posted photos from the evening. I’m not fully confident I will be successful, but I hope so. It’s best heard in Bobby’s own spoken words.
And there was another difference in our 50th reunion. Molly Lipe Davidow joined us from her home in Poland via the Facetime app on her phone. Couldn’t have done that at our 40th.
We enjoyed seeing each other, missed all who were not there and though we never did set a definite date for the next reunion, we agreed that we’d better not wait another ten years.