Class of '59

I’m at an age where I’ve seen enough parades and my kids are too old to chase for candy, but I went to the Minneota Bug Days parade because my oldest sister, Nancy Meade Swenson, was on a float — class of 1959.

She had a blast this year getting together with her old classmates. She has kept her friends from high school and gets together with them regularly unless they have been rude enough to die on her. And she has attended class reunions in the past but they have been rushed.

This was a particularly good reunion because she said she had more time with everyone. The classmates told stories about their high school exploits. She couldn’t believe that this was the first time she had heard those tales. She drove one guy, Dennis Orsen, back to the cities Sunday and she and another classmate had so much fun talking with him, they could have driven him all the way to his eventual destination of Pittsburgh, Pa.

I met one of her friends who said she hadn't seen me since I was 4. I told her I hadn't changed a bit.

Nancy used to drive around with me and her friends when I was a tot -- very irresponsible of her since I wasn't in a car seat or seat belt.

I told that last bit to my cousin Gary Wigness Sunday and he rudely pointed out that car seats and seat belts weren't invented back then and mumbled something about horses and buggies.