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October 30, 2008
Thanks for all the effort you have put in to the 40th reunion. I've really enjoyed all the pictures of the reunion team...brings back fond memories of all of them. Andy Matter contacted me about it some time ago and I really had hoped to come back. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it. I live in Arizona about 2 hours north of Phoenix. I have made 3 trips back already this year to help my mom with surgery and chemotherapy. My wife and I are full time yoga teachers and she has to cover my classes when I'm gone, and I may come back for Thanksgiving. It seems like the older I get, the more I appreciate my foundation. My recent trips back have overwhelmed me with a new appreciation of the beauty of PA and Delaware County, which I took for granted growing up there. Living in high desert in Arizona makes me feel like I'm in the jungle when I return there, especially where my mom lives in Newtown Square. Earl's Lake is there, and I remember we all went ice skating there in high school when the lake would freeze over. I've definitely kept up with my musical interests, and have been writing for our local string orchestra, choirs, string quartets, etc. I perform my original songs regularly at a progressive church nearby. I'm also doing sound therapy since 1987. When I started it was almost unheard of, but if you google sound therapy now you'll get thousands of listings. It's the use of specific sound vibrations and frequencies to adjust brainwave functions into areas of greater physical health and mental well-being. I've recently fallen in love with kayaking and may try to catch a fish or two. The pictures of the reunion team are so much fun. So many look so much the same. You, Jimmy Arbuckle and Barb, Nancy Iredale, Frannie Hodnett, Walt, Andy, Linda Germano, etc. Some I knew better than others, but I remember them all. It blew me away to see Wayne Wilson's mountain climbing experiences. He lived a few streets from me and we used to cut school and listen to albums all day at his house. Even though I have had very little contact with Andy Matter after high school, his friendship, generosity, and humility combined with outstanding athletic ability profoundly affected me as a boy and continue to enrich my life. I have a pack of dimes for Jimmy Arbuckle. My parents never gave me lunch money and I remember Jimmy regularly lending me a dime for a brick of ice cream, never expecting to be paid back. From the pictures I see, maybe he'd prefer a case of beer. (I've grown to love Guiness) At our 10th reunion, Linda Germano mentioned she had begun painting. I wonder if she has continued with that. I've had a show of my photography recently, and love to keep up with creative hobbies. Though I've had a number of live in relationships, I didn't get married until 46. Met my wife on a Mediteranean Cruise (she's Portuguese). No children, and I'm not sorry. A fresh water aquarium is enough responsibility for me for this lifetime (and a few cats along the way) although I'm having daydreams of a dog in the rear hatch of my kayak sometime. So...Please give my fondest regards to everybody in the crew, and I hope to catch up sometime in the future. Best wishes, Rian McGonigal |