50 and Fabulous

One of the reasons I have come back to Sri Lanka is to celebrate my 50th year with my girl friends from high school.  It is now 32 years since we left school and except for my close friends who live in Sri Lanka, I haven’t seen many of my class mates for a very long time.  Many of us had attended Ladies right from our Kindergarten days through to Grade 12, when we did our A Levels and parted ways.  

The idea of us holding this reunion had been born on facebook over discussions that had taken place more than 2 years ago. The organising had been done by the girls at home with some encouragement and support from those of us overseas….mostly through posting comments and ideas on our facebook page.

50 an Fabulous…..Yes…I think we proved that to be true!

The evening had been well planned and ran like clock work.  The event was being held at the Mt Lavinia Hotel and started with cocktails on the terrace overlooking the ocean. giving us about 2 hours to mingle and reconnect with each other.

We then moved in to the Maitland Room where we would enjoy the evening’s entertainment as well as dinner.  The girls have asked me to do a presentation about my year away.  I am slightly nervous but the technology does not fail me and based on the feedback I received, presentation on Connections, Challenges and Chasing a Dream was well received.  I wanted to share my journey but also to inspire my girl friends to live in the NOW, to go in search of their destiny and to set themselves a few goals for the next 25 years of their lives.  The next reunion will be the judge of how successful I was at that!

The girls who have come from overseas have brought their partners and a few of guys who are local have also braved the event…

It’s now time to sing the school hymn and cut our birthday cake.  Chintha and Sanshi who have organised the cake, do the honours on our behalf.

After that w play a few games.  The organising committee have put together a couple of games that are fun and interactive.  The first one tests our Sinhalese language ability and the second one our agility as the 50 and fabulous ladies dart about with balloons tied to their ankles trying to burst each others balloons.  Mihiri de Mel wins the honours in the balloon bursting competition!

We tuck in to some fabulous food before the dancing starts.  It has been an amazing evening of fun, laughter and camaraderie.  It will be a long time before all of these girls who have travelled from Europe, Australia, other parts of Asia and the US will be together again.

And so we danced the night away, we crown Arundathie as the Baila Queen of the night, with Hilmy and Mhiri Wu giving her a good run for her money.

It has been a wonderful night.  The time at Ladies College was a special time in our lives.  We made memories that have lasted a lifetime.  As we set goodbye we were all hoping it won’t be another 25 years before we do this again…

 

“Let your heart be your guide.  It whispers, so listen carefully.”