Reproduction: A Story of Before and After

Once upon a time, there was Mark. Mark was active in many different ways at Slidell High, so you saw him everywhere: winning on the tennis court, riding in the Homecoming parade, cheering in the stands at a basketball game.

Then came Mark’s wife. Of course, she was not his wife when they first met, but she chose to become his wife after she got to know him. If Mark were at all responsible about checking in with his high school reunion planners, as active as he was in high school, I would know the name of his wife. I would write that name here instead of referring to her only in terms of Mark.

After a time, as can happen with couples, Mark’s family expanded, even doubled in number. Looking at this sweet portrait, admiring the smiles, how can Mark not feel happiness and pride when he reflects on his life? But more importantly, how can he not email me the names of his children too?

Some of you have doubled, even tripled, your family sizes. If there were a Class Mark Event that rewarded proliferation, surely we’d have already beaten those pests in the class of 87. Let’s prove it by posting more photographs here. And Mark Shaw, for the love of all things green and white, send me an email and tell me that you and all three people whose names I don’t yet know will attend the reunion on June 10, 2006.