Garden Party

Ricky Nelson sings a song called "Garden Party" and when I went to a "To hell with the Bell" brunch the other day I was reminded of this song and these verses from the song:

Went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends

A chance to share old memories 

When I got to the garden party, No one recognized me, I didn't look the same

But it's all right now, I learned my lesson well.

You see, ya can't please everyone, so ya got to please yourself

Some background, in my previous life I used to be a teacher and in my community of teachers, one of the customs is to have a breakfast brunch on the first day of school for all those who just retired and those who have been retired for a while. All jobs have routines and protocols that people take for granted and learn to live with or ignore. In school, the bane of many teachers is the bell to signify the end or start of class. So, one of the joys of retirement is that you no longer have to react to the bell. So, at the brunch, the newly retired teachers can say, "The hell with the Bell" and enjoy their first day of retirement.

I went to this event in 2007 and saw people that I had worked with and had a good time, and went on with my life and I never went back. On a whim this year when I received notice of the event, I decided to go. It was interesting, at first, I did not recognize anyone, so I choose a table and sat down and as the place filled up, people joined me. I met three elementary teachers two who had just retired and one who had retired about 6 years ago. I enjoyed our conversation, and they like me were looking around to see if they recognized others. 

It took a while, but I saw a table of people from a school I had taught at for six years, what I thought was interesting is that the same people (minus some who were no longer with us) had been together when I first went to the brunch in 2007. After the meal was over to say hello to them, and I said hello and gave my name because no one recognized me, I didn’t look the same. Once I told them who I was, a number of the group came over and we talked about how they were doing and what life was like for them now. We did not get a chance to reminisce, but they said I should come back for the Christmas lunch, and they would save a seat at the table for me. I might just do that to see if they have changed.