POST REUNION

Good Morning, Class of '64

The Good Life - Thomas Kincaid

The trick is to enjoy life. 

Don't wish away your days, 

waiting for better ones ahead.
Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Blue Skies

Ella Fitzgerald

The best times we’ve had on earth
are usually with those we love.
Van Harden
Life in the Purple Wedge!

 

 I've Got the World on a String

Frank Sinatra

Heyday, now that is a funny word ain't it?
Part of a heyday is, you don't never know you
are having yourself one till later when it's all
over with, long gone.
Lee Smith
On Agate Hill  

Ain't We Got Fun

Doris Day

Do what makes you happy,
be with who makes you smile,
laugh as much as you breathe,
and love as long as you live.
Rachel Ann Nunes

 

Prelude - Robert B. Dance

  

Retirement and Beyond

 

As a law enforcement officer in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, I was eligible to retire at age 50. I could have stayed a few more years and increased my annuity significantly, but I retired after 22 years. I have no regrets.

In my retirement, I have read a lot of books. I have written a lot. I have learned much about the Bible and have developed and taught several Sunday School classes. I learned to tie flies and have tied a few hundred - even caught some fish on flies that I tied. I have spent some, not nearly enough, great days fishing and made a new friend - my fishing buddy. I have raised some good gardens and learned to can produce and meats.

Most of all, I have enjoyed life.

 I finally figured out the only

reason to be alive is to enjoy it.
Rita Mae Brown

In the days I have left, I want to continue all those activities. I want to enjoy family and friends. I want to enjoy family and class reunions and Valley Head Homecomings. I want to read more books and write more. I want to learn more of the Bible and become a better Christian and a better man. I want to design a fly and catch a really big trout with it. I want to spend more time in the mountains and on trout streams.

Whatever happens, I pray that I will accept it with faith and grace. I have been richly blessed, so richly blessed that nothing can make my life less than very, very blessed.

If I have learned anything worth passing on to others, it comes from the fount of all wisdom, the Bible:

“I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God.” Ecclesiastes 3:12 - 13, New International Version

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13, New International Version

Work hard and enjoy your work. Enjoy the simple things in life. Love your spouse and family and enjoy them. Fear God - translate that as “maintain an awesome respect for God.” Keep His commandments. We have little control over the number of days in our lives, but we do control the amount of life in our days. These simple rules will keep much more life in our days.

I love life. I love the beautiful, awesome world God created and gave to us. I expect to enjoy the rest of my life. But I look forward with anticipation the next life. I expect to spend eternity with God, and I expect to be reunited with family and friends. I cannot imagine a world better than this one, but that one will be.
I hope you enjoyed some of these writings. They are from a book I wrote called “How We Got By.” It isn’t published, but I’ll print a couple of copies and figure out a way to give them away at the reunion.

Hope to see you at the reunion next week-end. It will be a great time to compare operations and illnesses, grand kids, etc., and to reminisce over our experiences at T.V.H.S. One thing for sure - we can’t lie about our age! We all know how old we are! It should be great! I want to see you there, even though I may not recognize you. Of course you will recognize me - I haven’t changed a bit! Well, I guess I have changed a little - I lie a lot more! Larry E. See,

Class of 1964,

Tygarts Valley High School Bulldogs

 

Tying the Fly - Unknown

 In all of living, 

have much fun and laughter. 

Life is to be enjoyed, 

not just endured.
  Gordon B. Hinckley

Let the Good Times Roll

BB King

And that's how it is in America. 

We look to our communities, 

our faiths, 

 our families for our joy, 

our support, 

in good times and bad. 

It is both how we live our lives 

and why we live our lives.

Mitt Romney

I Feel Good

James Brown

This time, like all times, is a good time,
if we but know what to do with it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Good Life

Tony Bennett - 1963

If only we'd stop trying to be happy 

we'd have a pretty good time.

 Edith Wharton

Man and Woman Fishing - Frank Stick

 But nobody ever tells you in advance when 

you should concentrate on the good times-

that's why you're supposed to do it every day.
  Jordan Sonnenblick

After Ever After
 

Man Fishing on Lake - Unknown