Ladies’ Potluck

María decided to extend the reunion festivities by inviting us over on Thursday for a pot-luck dinner featuring make-your-own tacos.

Carli Scott; Daphne Mena, née Hoy; Eloisa Bradley; Ina Retreage, née Boyd; Jenny Lizama, née Castillo; Jessie Hoare; Joyce Perdomo, née Gough; Lydia Balderamos Loskot; María Scott, née Villanueva; Marta Woods, née Ordóñez; Ruby Gillett née Vásquez.

It was “ladies night out.” By this time, we assumed that other family members needed a break from our reunion. It also gave us the opportunity to reminisce about high school days without worrying whether our companions were getting bored. We were particularly glad to see Jessie, who had missed all the earlier activities, and Lydia, who had been able to attended only the Mass.

We talked about our third-form trip to Merida and our fourth-form trip to Stann Creek and the various male pen-pals we acquired on those trips. We shared fond (and some not-so-fond) memories of our high school teachers. We passed on any news we had about school friends who had missed the reunion.

Ruby brought her copy of Caribe 1969 for Joyce and Eloisa to sign. Back in ’69, when Ruby was collecting signatures, Joyce and Eloise wanted to wait until they could think of something special to write; time passed and Ruby forgot to get their signatures. We passed the yearbook around, marvelling at how young we all looked back then and congratulating each other on how young we still look.

When we had finished dinner, Ruby announced that the evening would not be complete until we sang our school song. Surprisingly, we were able to remember (fairly well) the tune and the lyrics, so we treated ourselves (and María’s neighbors) to a chorus of Mercians On.