‘We Made it!’ a speech by Craig Brennan at the Ann Arbor Pioneer, Huron& Community High 50th Reunion

“We Made It!”
Now, time to celebrate!
Congratulations to all of you for making it to our 50th High School Reunion.
We Made It! (Strong/Enthusiastic)
We made It! (Confident/Calm)
We made It! (Surprised/Comedic)
We made it to our high school graduation in 1976, or so I assume most of us did.
We made it through our first dates and breakups, we made it through our senior year football championships (or defeats), Homecoming parades and proms, battle of the bands, concerts and musicals performances, swim meets, tennis matches, Lacrosse battles, the smart-kid debates, and student government elections.
We made it to our first job, community college, a trade school, college or university in the Fall of 1976. Some of us got jobs right out of high school. Some of us went into the military. Some of us stayed close to home attending Washtenaw, Eastern, Western, Michigan State or Michigan. Some of us went off to Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Duke, or MIT.
Let’s hope NONE OF US went off to Ohio State!
But whichever path we took, we made it here tonight!
Some us got married right out of high school, some of us waited a year or two. Some of us met our wives or husbands at college or graduate school or getting a Ph.D. Some of us preferred to stay single. And some of us desired to be with a same-sex partner, but the times weren’t quite ready for that, yet.
But whichever life path we took, we made it here tonight!
We made it through our first cars, first moves, first marriages, and first families. Some of us succeeded beyond our wildest 18-year-old imaginations. Some of us struggled, and failed, and failed again, fought addictions, suffered personal tragedies or setbacks. A few of us were like rocket ships that easily soared to academic, career, and family success.
Hopefully most of us muddled through the past 50 years with enough ambition, hard work, and a bit of luck, that life treated us pretty darn well, at least some of the time.
But whichever life path we experienced, we made it here tonight!
Perhaps my own unexpected, unplanned life is just a small reflection of what so many of us have lived.
At 43, after a couple of dead-end career moves, I was beyond surprised when I learned I was selected as the new CEO of Brio Software, a public enterprise software company.
At 47, after multiple failed relationships, I got married for the first time to a passionate Peruvian man and we are still together 20 years later.
And at 57, after years of being “Uncle Craig” for my niece and 8 nephews, I became a first-time dad to my adorable twin boys C&C, who are now 10 years old.
“Is this just me?
Or is this a version of all of our stories — unpredictable, unplanned, kinda-got-it-right — with lots of stumbles and falls, setbacks and defeats, but with enough wins and victories that we all somehow made it here tonight.”
Our time in 1976 was full of joy and wonder as we celebrated our very own Bicentennial!
We watched Happy Days, All In the Family, MASH, and the newly launched Saturday Night Live.
We listened to Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Simon & Garfunkel, Beach Boys and the Supremes.
We cheered on our not-so-successful Detroit teams in 1976, but we loved our superstars none-the-less, Mark Fidrych “The Bird”; Charlie Sanders, Lem Barney, and Greg Landry; and our superstar of superstars, Gordie Howe.
And we watched ABC, NBC, or CBS and read the Ann Arbor News.
Yet over the long arc of our lives, we also lived through profound historical moments.
Our early lives were defined by the JFK Assassination, the Moon Landing, Vietnam, Woodstock, and Watergate.
Over the decades we protested or praised 9 Presidents, navigated or suffered through 6 Recessions, made or lost money during 6 Stock Market Booms and 6 Major Crashes, and caught or missed Covid. We collectively watched as the Soviet Union dissolved, we were shocked by the 9/11 attack, and we hoped the endless Iraq Wars would end.
We also learned to embrace profound technological change – laptops and cell phones, the internet, Amazon, MRI’s, GPS, Facebook, TikTok, EV’s, and now AI.
Our bodies survived implants, cataracts, Botox, and Facelifts; Hair Transplants, Tummy Tucks, new hips, and inflated lips.
And through it all, here we are. We made it, we made it through incredible ups and downs, twists and turns, personal, national, and global, and we are still standing, still engaged, still here with our families, our friends and communities, and we all choose to return to the place we once called home to reconnect and to remember.
As I began and as I finish, we made it. We all made it here tonight. Enjoy your rekindled friendships. Look past the wrinkles and extra pounds, the grey hair or no hair, the half-remembered moments five minutes ago, and embrace the magic of our 18-year-old selves and celebrate!
WE MADE IT!