When I was a mischievous child growing up, I was often told to grow up. I'm now 50-plenty and still happily ignoring that message, along with the expectation of growing old. And parties are great spaces for me to, usually through the music, indulge my youth - even if it exists only as a fading memory. How about you? For most people, there's no beating a party, preferably filled with old friends from school days. Such gatherings are almost always happy occasions. They create the sort of scenes usually guaranteed to be coloured with a kaleidoscope of smiles and peppered with the music of laughter - smiles and laughter that are usually inspired by exciting memories.

That's partly why I enjoy attending the dinner-dances put on by Jamaican high school alumni associations all over the world. Of course, I'm the proud alumnus of only one high school (though when it comes to schools, things really don't get higher - and technically that's not a boast, since Excelsior means 'yet higher'). Because of my work in entertainment, however, I get to attend several of these events each year. And I'm always amused by how people in my age range and older, especially, once they hit the dance floor, seem to totally transform from miserable old fogeys to energetic youngsters as they get teleport back to the days of their youth. I don't know about you, but it's a great feeling for me.

Even an unlikely encounter in a mall, on the streets or in an airport with an old friend from a nicer time, and the inevitable trip down memory lane does wonders to lift the spirit and sweeten the soul. I recently had a brief, but pleasant, chance 'buck up' with one Ivor Smith, who many people in Jamaica know as a smooth-talking, nice-music-playing disc jockey on KOOL FM, but whom I've known from way back in the magically memorable mayhem of my high-school days at that venerable institution at 137 Mountain View Avenue in St Andrew.

Clearly, I'm no longer the sweaty, socially obnoxious little shine-faced clown who was always either getting on your nerves or amusing you by getting on somebody else's nerves. And I don't know if he knows it, but Ivor no longer looks like the imposing star player on the Manning Cup team with the big afro, who was the rumoured reason behind quite a few fights among the girls.

But it was funny and refreshingly reassuring to me how the simple encounter with my friend from school days lifted my spirits and transported me back in time.

I'm sharing these thoughts, as I rue not being able to join the many school mates of Ivor and myself who will gather in a few weeks' time for the 46th annual Dinner-Dance of the Excelsior Alumni Association USA Inc in New York. Set for October 3 at Ricardo's by the Bridge in Queens, it's ostensibly about opportunities for past students to give back, keep the dreams of our founder, Dr Wesley Powell, alive and honour the work of current principal Mr Deanroy Bromfield. But don't make that description fool you, as it promises to be a fun-filled affair. Nostalgia will nice up the party. And that's a good thing.

An article I recently read in the New York Times online confirms the health benefits to be derived from a good dose of nostalgia. Entitled 'What Is Nostalgia Good For? Quite a Bit, Research Shows' - the article states that nostalgia has been shown to counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety, and generally makes people more generous to strangers and more tolerant of outsiders. Even on cold days or in cold rooms, people can use nostalgia to literally feel warmer. Of course, it's just another example of research simply confirming what everybody already knows intrinsically.

US author John Hively suggests that "It's easy to grow old if you haven't grown up" Me? I'm resolutely resisting both.

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