Stay Gold - elementary school reunion

I was gone to my hometown, Osaka, for a few days.
There are many galleries and museums in Osaka, and I wanted to visit some of them. But the biggest purpose of the trip was to participate in elementary school reunion for the first time in 35 years.

 

24 out of 44 who were in the same class for 2 years at the age of 11 to 12 got together for the reunion, plus our class teacher.
She (Ms.M) was very famous as the most strict teacher in our school and we were very scared (!) when it was announced that we were going to belong to her class. Indeed, she was very strict teacher. But, moreover, she is one of the best teacher I have ever met. I think all of my classmates will agree on that; While she was very strict on our behavior and always encouraged us to study hard (very hard!) by giving a lot of homework, she loved us more than anything. On sunny day, she often brought us to the riverside close to our school to play softball, throwing up the classwork (without getting permission of the school principal.)

In a small pub close to our school, we could not stop talking about our old memories. We felt like we are still 12-year old kids.
Everybody remembered very small details of the happenings in the class;  Who was the most mischievous boy and got it by Ms.M,  or who was the first love of whom, or what was the best school lunch, etc...
Each of us had good time and bad time in the past 30-something years. We grew up and became capable to look back the past objectively and look forward to the future with a hope which we still cannot see.  One of the classmate said, "If I can go back to the best time in my whole life, I will definitely want to go back to the boy when I was playing with you guys." I think most of us thought the same way. It was the golden age for us. We know we can't go back to that time, but also felt very certain that our reunion this time is the start of our new golden age which will last until we die.

Friendship in childhood is jewel; never loses its brightness. At the end, I especially want to thank a few of my friends, who planned this reunion a half year ago, and spent so much time and energy to find old friends (most of us left the hometown for a long time ago). It is quite something to do. We could not regain this friendship and have a opportunity to build new bond without their tremendous effort and quiet dedication.