August 17, 2000

Hey everybody (uh oh, Mary, yup, another Doug Brill letter)!

I don’t want to get melancholic with this message (it would be really easy to do). But I do want to thank each and every one of you for being there and sharing in the joy of reunion. We have some sort of incredible bond amongst ourselves. I sort of see it as though we were listening to a record a few (!) years ago, it skipped a beat, but we are right back with the very same tune. Maybe that tune was "In My Life." I will have a tough time topping that song with the next reunion (next reunion? I am already thinking…).

One great observation for me about Atlanta was the number of first time attendees. They came with high nervousness and trepidation but fell right into it! And, the biggest surprise was seeing classmates know more classmates than I had imagined. Our family is bigger than I thought!

I said my heartfelt thanks to you all on Saturday. I neglected to thank Donna and George Moore’s band simply because they had not started and they were not on my mind in the weeks preparing my words. They were FANTASTIC and all of us thank all of you for a wonderful evening of reminiscing tunes! A personal thanks for the interruption by Bill Basney. I feel very privileged to have had you speak (Willy the Warrior thanking ME - WOW) and to thank me eloquently for my efforts. I graciously accept the kind words from you and the feelings from the 111 of us together. Thanks also to the entire volunteer airport shuttle drivers.

I stayed through until Monday and drove back to Washington DC that day. After the final two (Molly and Jody) went with Gummi Peterson to the airport, I wandered down the hall to the banquet room that had held the days of festivities. It was dark and empty. I was momentarily sad. There is an old WWII movie where a teacher (I think) returns to England and to one of the old Quonset hut briefing buildings at an abandoned B-17 base. As he looked at the emptiness, visions filled his mind with memories of that time. My eyes and heart were filled alike with the Atlanta Days of Joy from August 2000. My thought in my letter from 2 and ½ years ago still stands and is the end of this message:

Doug dougbrill@msn.com