Every 5 years, our "Abitur" class from 1982 meets for a reunion, around our town where the high school is. Last time, in 2002, I was not able to join them, as I could not find the opportunity to travel from Los Angeles to Germany. But this year, it could be quite conveniently arranged with the travel from Leeds, and so I was looking forward to met my former pals from high school ("Johannes-Butzbach-Gymnasium Miltenberg") at this 25-year reunion celebration.
On Saturday morning, we met in Grossheubach at 11:30. The plan was to walk up to the "Rosshof" and have a rustic lunch there.
I have not been very often in Grossheubach in the past 25 years. Spent my childhood and youth there, but was not very much rooted in the town. I visited the first 4 years of elementary school there ("Grundschule"), but then my main focus of activities had been nearby Miltenberg at the high school. Most of my friends lived there, only a few lived in Grossheubach. Since 1975 I was always going with the bicycle to the school in Miltenberg - it was just a 15 min ride.
My parents had no relatives in Grossheubach - we had moved to Grossheubach for reasons of my father's job. So when they moved away from Grossheubach almost 20 years ago, there was no reason to visit the town. I had once in a while stopped by, to see the change. This time I was looking for the old grocery stores, just to buy something to drink. But they were all gone. One had closed for good, the other had been converted into a "Schlecker" drugstore. For groceries there was only a NORMA supermarket outside the town - how pathetic.
We met at the agreed place at the Sportplatz. Not everybody was sure if this was the right place, but since we all showed up there, it must have been ok.
I could still recognise everyone - nobody seemed to have changed since the pictures of the last meeting were taken. We had a lot to catch up, telling our stories of life and career.
In the aftenoon I decided to visit some old friends in Grossheubach whom I knew since 39 years. Then our class met again in the main street of Miltenberg, for a nice ice cream. The day concluded with a visit at our professional wine maker colleague Hans-Herrman Knapp, who had organised a wine tasting evening. As I wanted still to drive home with the car, I had to skip most of the delicious liquid delicacies which he presented.
I left early, since I still had a 1 1/2 hour drive past Wuerzburg. Would have liked to stay longer, as there is so much to tell and to listen to - but I had decided to visit one of the people who had influenced my life quite significantly during my youth: Msgn. Alberth Schlereth. Now 83 years old, he is still bright and intellectual as always, and I was very glad that I did not miss the opportunity to briefly stop by, say hello, and update him briefly about my life in the past 25 years.
