Ten years later, a ‘thanks’ that meant something…

We have a classmate at Palo Alto High who’s single-handedly organized all of our reunions, starting 7 years out when we’d missed the 5-year and didn’t want to wait for ten.

Bill S. has worked tirelessly putting these together for us, and as a result, we’ve got a tighter-knit group than many.  At the last reunion, he created a chance for us to mention a classmate who had made a difference by their act of kindness … and whom we wanted to thank.

We told various stories… and at the end of our share session,  Bill took the mic again.  He had a few people he wanted to thank, he said.

To my surprise, I heard him mention “Erica Gerard”.   He said I’d given him a gift certificate for a massage after the last reunion, and he’d been tired and worn out and it had come at exactly the right moment…and he had been very moved by my thoughtfulness.  I’d almost forgotten it until he reminded me.  It was a small token of ‘thanks’ — that lasted much longer than one hour.  I was glad I’d done it then, and embarrassed — and pleased — that such a small gesture had carried over so many years.