Lately words are igniting the brain cells and creating beautiful fireworks of memories, all over the Internet, as e-mails are exchanged between former ASM classmates. How long had it been since we had thought about high school ... old friends ...? How much had we forgotten? When was the last time we took a peek at an old yearbook?

Suddenly, as Pedro Arbona described, "It's like desert flowers! After thirty years of drought, an El Niño rain and kaboom!!!" Messages, memories, connections re-established ... why did we wait so long? Perhaps as we approach a 30 year anniversary of our graduation (and the dreaded "5-0" birthday) we are thinking back to those days when our entire future was ahead of us. Not to worry - our entire future is STILL ahead of us - we just have another 30 years of memories and experience to guide us along!

So, what have we been doing? Pedro Arbona writes:

"I am doing fine. I spent 21 years in the military, with assignments in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe. My last tour was at the Pentagon, (Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). I retired from there in 1994 (Lieutenant Colonel). Went back to school (Syracuse University) and took some time off to travel, write and "smell the flowers." I now do defense-related contracting/consulting work in the D.C. area. Currently doing work with MPRI (www.mpri.com). I live in Springfield, VA with two cats, Ping and Pong. Ping has been with me for 19 years; Pong, 13. Well-travelled cats!!!"

Carol Farron provided this update:

"My history in Madrid is memorable for several reasons. I moved there with my family in 1965 and went to ASM for eighth and ninth grades. In the tenth grade I went to Torrejon and then returned to San Francisco to graduate from high school. I went to college in the Bay Area and returned to Madrid in 1970, where I taught school with my pal Kiki Munoz, ASM ' 68, at St. Ann's School in El Viso. From there I moved to Fuengirola and then Malaga where I also taught. I was back in Madrid last from 1974-76, and haven't been back since then. I've been so blessed and had great jobs all my life. I directly attribute them to having the wonderful opportunity to learn Spanish and a few other languages that came to me easily because of Spanish."

Carol is now the community-development director at a hospital in Lodi, California where she does the marketing, PR, planning, grant writing and developing. Check out her web site <http://www.lodihealth.org>. She lives not far from Sacramento, where she is involved in developing health-care legislation and library legislation. She is also president of the local library board.

Joanne Hattrick writes:

"It sure is fun to catch up on the past. It seems like centuries ago since we all graduated on that windy, sunny day in June. It is hard to believe that we were the largest graduating class at ASM at that time. The other day I went through a drawer and found some old fotos. I found one with Alberto Darna 68, Joanne Hall and her brother, Leslie, Jamie and his sister and a few other people. For those who remember Mr. Stocker our English teacher way back when -- back in 1985 when we were at the Fort Lauderdale Airport I all of a sudden heard a familiar voice. I looked over to the taxi stand and found that it was Mr. Stocker standing there talking to some other people."

Jamie Kevlin is a country editor of two papers in Pennsylvania (Republican and Herald). He and his wife, Mary Joan, have a four year old son who is "full of beans"!

If you haven't yet, please check out the ASM web sites:

< http://www.learningoasis.com/pages/asm/index.htm > (Official Site)

< http://www.gutech.com/asm/ > (Unofficial Site)

While you are at Gus's "unofficial" site, take a look at Steve Shepard's ('72) articles (click on ASM Articles). Even if you don't know Steve (who was a lowly freshman when we were big bad seniors), I think his memories will trigger some for you.