A LifeWorks Moment

A "LifeWorks Moment" is a time, story, incident that occurred in my life when weaved into all the others, makes me the person I am today as well as my business LifeWorks. I find when I do presentations, workshops, and speeches, people enjoy being able to connect with me.

I get that look from audience members that says, "yep been there".

Its been a tough year for the the Class of '71 for the Webster City Lynx. My graduating class was a pretty good size one for a school out in the cornfields of north central Iowa. We had slightly over 200 graduates. But now we're at that age when its sad to hear but not unexpected, to learn of a fallen classmate. You're first thought is "holy cow are you kidding..." Then you stop and realize "hey we're the same age. We played on the same team, lockered next to each other." And now they're gone!

Some of my classmates have died in tragic ways. When you remember the person and then see how they have died...well it just doesn't add up.

Now the Purple & Gold of '71 will celebrate its 40th reunion in August 2011. I'm in that phase of my life where I tell people "I don't even feel 40 let alone be celebrating my 40th year after graduating." There may be a slight bit of denial going on with me!

Through the past few months several of my classmates have died. Actually enough of them passed away that it set off an alarm. So a picnic was held this past weekend for those who could attend back in Webster City. You know get the old gang back together before someone else bites the bullet. Not too many attended. But for those who did I understand it was a good time.

Forty years! Classmates have passed on. Many of us live all over the United States. Many have remarkable careers. I think the one thing we weren't thinking of in 1971 was the day when we'd share pictures of our grandchildren. Grandchildren! Are you kidding? That's tough to admit when as a baby boomer we're just never going to get that old.

And then I noticed something in one of the 'post-picnic' emails. There was a message from one of my classmates who apparently attended the picnic. This classmate wrote, "I know I wasn't very popular back then but I still remember 'the days of the Class of 71'.

Ugh! Somewhere in that line is a story. This person is in their mid-50's. They are nearly 40 years removed from that graduation night of May 1971. I feel somewhat sad for that person. Part of me wants to say "oh get on with it" and another part of me says, "well its what they remember about those days and how some people treated them."

For those who "blended in", were wallflowers, and just went about life...yep you weren't too cool then. You may have lived on the "other side of town." Or maybe your parents were blue collar workers. You may have even went to the 'wrong' elementary school. And probably like every other high school there were the "cool" kids. They may have been alittle more athletic, maybe alittle more attractive and maybe their parents had alittle nicer house and car. And I guess that buys you an attitude that says "I'm alittle bit better than you." Apparently there's still at least one class member who has that memory after all these years. So as much as we want to say "Hey we're the Class of '71 let's hear it for the Lynx..." well maybe we haven't changed all that much after 40 years.