“The friendships of 
your youth leave 
an everlasting 
impact on your soul.” 

Yesterday was a perfect summer day in Walnut Creek for the annual Saint Gabriel Class of 1968 Bocce Ball Classic. More than a dozen class members, along with several significant others, gathered at Rossmoor, a retirement community which is home to two of our classmates. Pat Shanahan and Dan Reilly graciously hosted the event.

After a bit of socializing, we wandered from the picnic area to the bocce ball courts for the fun and games. Since some just wanted to watch instead of play, we needed only two courts. My wife, Kathy, and I teamed up with Joe Stark in what promised to be a highly non-competitive match against Colleen (Byrne) Castile and Debbie Clot. Little did we know that Colleen, who lives just across the road from Rossmoor and plays bocce ball on a regular basis on the Rossmoor courts, would illustrate to us how the game is meant to be played.

It’s a quite simple game, really. A little yellow ball is rolled down the playing surface past the midway point. Then each team attempts to get one of their four larger balls closest in proximity to the little yellow one. Piece of cake, right? Colleen informed us that the game would end when one team had ten points. 

After the first round of balls had been rolled, Colleen and Debbie took a 1-0 lead. I assured my teammates that we had nothing to worry about. After the second and third rounds, we were down 5-0. I confidently encouraged Joe and Kathy to stay positive, as we still had plenty of time to make our comeback. At the end of the game, and it was a short game, we had been soundly defeated by Colleen and Debbie. The final score was 10-0. I can’t speak for Kathy or Joe, but what I played yesterday could be more accurately described as botch-ee ball! 

Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about what happened on the other court. My full attention was focused on the humiliating loss we were enduring on our court. I’ve played bocce ball at Rossmoor in previous years. I don’t remember it being so darn challenging! Colleen and Debbie, however, made it look easy.

Having been convincingly humbled, we returned to the picnic area where we immediately forgot about everything that had happened at the bocce ball court and thoroughly enjoyed a bring-your-own-lunch feast. Pat and Dan provided water and a few dessert items, which included a box of delicious brownies which, I assured my friends, had no calories if you ate them standing up! Cathy (Koppel) Gibbs brought a tray of cupcakes to celebrate those of us who had birthdays in the month of June. 

The food was good. The bocce ball competition was enjoyable, though humbling. The highlight of the day, as it has been with all the Class of ’68 gatherings I’ve attended in recent years, was simply being together, sharing stories and memories, catching up on each other’s lives, and being grateful that we still have the opportunity to get together.

This is something that, at our age, we cannot take for granted.