— High school class reunions can be a strange mix of emotions, ranging from anticipation to trepidation.

How do I look? How will she look? How will he look? Is my life story a good one? I can’t wait to see them.

Members of the Bishop McCort High School Class of 1975 gathered to celebrate the 35th anniversary of their graduation this summer.

Most of us are in some degree of denial about the number. I know, personally, I don’t even think I am 35 years old, let alone out of high school that many years.

Many of us comment on the same as soon as we land eyes on each other. It’s a fun way to break the ice after all of these years.

Somehow we feel closer to our high school-aged selves than to our parents’ ages when we graduated. It is a strange thing.

We certainly think we’ve aged better than our parents did.

Susie looks fantastic, Cathy is exactly as we remember, Frank hasn’t changed a bit and Debbie is as beautiful as ever.

Louie’s a little more gray, but no less funny. And Seif, while thinning, still has his wild streak. Bruce still looks like he could captain the football team and Pam could still fit into her high school uniform.

Mike pulled up out front on his Harley-Davidson, and Jim and his wife came despite her surgery a few days earlier.

They’ve never missed. Kathy and Greg were high-school sweethearts whose love seems frozen in time. The same could be said for Rick and Susie, as well as Dawn and Bruce and Boomer and Juliet.

Maryann’s concern for others is exactly as it was all those years ago. One Bobby is still the life of the party and another Bob is still the sweetest guy you will ever know.

John, Mary, Tim, Pam and Bill still work hard to put it all together, for which we are all very grateful. We are grateful because we truly love one another and honestly can’t wait to see each other.

We always thought our class was special. The stories of our ill-spent youth are repeated over and over, resulting in a strengthening of our bond. The yearbooks are passed around and we are reminded of how good we really looked.

Marshall Tucker Band’s “24 Hours at a Time” – which was our unofficial theme song – is still blasted from the sound system, as are The Allman Brothers, David Bowie, Neil Young, Santana and the Eagles.

If you close your eyes, it is as though the music is still coming out of Ratch’s trunk on K.W. Hill as Rocky taps the keg.

While we haven’t played a football game in 35 years, the excitement level is just like Friday night at The Point.

Certainly our lives have traveled in as many different directions as there are individuals, each one’s path crossing with many a new friend over time.

Homes were made in different cities where jobs and families have filled the years.

Triumph and tragedy have marked us each differently.

We’ve borne children and buried loved ones.

We have collectively traveled a million miles, crisscrossing the planet in our 35 years since graduation.

And yet, the separation of time and distance disappears in an instant. Even for some whose eyes haven’t met in all of those years, the gaze is comfortably familiar.

You think to yourself, these people know me in a way no others can or ever will.

They know me for all of my foibles, embarrassments and the awkwardness of my growing years.

They know me in a way that only time can know me.

They know me in a way that even my children can’t.

And in that knowing, we are comforted in a way that only coming home can comfort.

How blessed and fortunate we are to live with the comfort of old friends and having a home like Johnstown.



Andy Lasky and his wife, Katie, own and operate City View Bar & Grill – “Atop

Johnstown’s Famous Inclined Plane.” Andy’s articles can be found at www.cityview­bar­andgrill.com.