The homecoming BY HENRY L. YU, M.D.

“I’m sitting in a railway station, got a ticket for my destination, hmmm, on a tour of one-night stand, my suitcase and guitar in hand, and every stop is neatly planned, for a poet and a one-man band...”

So goes one of our favorite songs back in high school entitled Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkel.

Just the thought of homecoming would put any Dodong or Inday of the class on a certain kind of high. For who would not be excited to meet again classmates of long ago? There’s so much of our yesteryear that we certainly would want to go back to, high school life being one of the most wonderful stages in our lives, one that will always be dear in our memories, whenever we think of our younger days.

A homecoming is one great opportunity to get together and meet classmates again, to relive the past, share life’s adventures, remember things, places and events, with us feeling like teenagers again, back to a place where we once were—to a place we call home.

A homecoming is a time to be the young and the restless that we used to be, bringing back the giggles, the laughter and fun, the agony and ecstasy of growing up. It’s putting back that sense of belonging that we’ve been missing all these many years as we went our separate ways.

A homecoming is a time to be up close and personal with former classmates, to get an update as to who’s who or what has become of this and that person. Who are those who are now lolos and lolas? Who are those who have gone ahead of us to the Great Beyond? What have become of our “puppy loves” and “crushes”? Where are the school majorettes and the members of the drum and bugle corps? The president of the student council? The valedictorian? The basketball heroes? The volleyball players? The cheering squad members? The algebra or biology teacher? Our class adviser? How do they look now after all these years?

All these and more will be unraveled only if and when we take a trip down south or north, east or west, homeward bound to our beloved alma mater. And if only for these, coming home to where we once belonged is worth the time and effort.

With the passage of time, most of us now are finding it hard to decipher words without the use of a doble vista, or climb up the stairs without panting, or walking fast and straight without feeling some arthritic pain here and there. Added to these, the wrinkles, age spots, laugh lines, double chin, white hair, receding hairline, love handles, protuberant tummy, etc.

Yes, after all these many years we are no longer the teenagers that we used to be, but deep inside us, we all still have that teen-like feeling hidden in the inner recesses of our beings, ready to explode during reunion time, forgetting about who we are or what we have become.

For once in our life, let us get together with classmates and friends. Let us be one in the true spirit of fellowship and camaraderie. Seize the moment. Let us not wait until the next. It might never come. As the song would put it:

“For all we know, we may never meet again. Before we go, make this moment sweet again. We won’t say goodbye, until the last minute. I’ll hold out my hand, and my heart will be in it. For all we know, this might only be a dream. We come and we go, like the ripples in the stream. So baby, love me, love me tonight. Tomorrow was made for some. Oh, but tomorrow may never, never come, for all we know…”