It is the beginning of May 2023 and the busy winter season is ending here in Palm Beach. People are off to myriad locations, mostly north, to the Carolinas, the Hamptons and upstate Maine. A few friends remain here for the summer to enjoy the quiet roads and uncrowded restaurants and beaches. Last night, a few friends gathered to say goodbye. The mood of the evening was convivial and brought to mind similar dinners from the past. In June of 1958, my senior dinner was held in the Benjamin Franklin High School gym in Rochester, New York. It was the final gathering of the graduating class, after all the other end-of-high school events had occurred–the Prom, and our class play. In the following days, we were all gone with the wind–off to various colleges throughout the country, a few to the military, and most, typical of the era, went straight into the workforce at Kodak, Xerox and other New York state companies. After four years of seeing each other almost daily –though many of us had been friends since elementary school– we were off to pursue our own destinies. As for my friends last evening in Palm Beach, God willing we will all see each other again in the Fall when the winter season in Florida recommences. The end of the season 2023 is the farthest thing from the runway takeoff of the summer of 1958. Back then, only a handful of us returned to live upstate where we were born and raised as children of immigrant parents. Over the years, a group of us have enjoyed getting together at my Maine camp every year – Jer, Bobbie, Harvey, Arnie and myself—to reminisce and talk about our school days and our careers and sometimes about our backgrounds, like where our families are from and how they have influenced us. I am particularly interested in my own family history, and I intend to write about it this summer while I am at camp (and do a bit of fishing too of course). I am starting with my father, who at age 12 traveled alone across Europe, then stowed away on a ship to find his brother in America. His life journey was an incredible one, and I was fortunate to be on it with him for a time, as it has ultimately led me to where I am today, surrounded by good friends and family, in the places I want to be. Something about seasons ending makes me especially nostalgic and searching.
