It's Not a Party Until a Drunk Guy You Haven't Seen in 20 Years Tries to Kiss You in Front of Your Husband
Last night was my class reunion. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So fun. I got to spend time with some of my dearest friends from high school, junior high, elementary school. And several, it turns out, from college. Twenty-three of my class started freshman year together at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Only a small percentage of us actually graduated from UMD, and many of us were there last night.
I took a few pictures at the dinner table but that's about it, and I'm kicking myself for it. Hammer Guy hung out with a couple of husbands that he's known for many years and seemed to have a good time. However, his level of sarcasm increased throughout the night, so by the time we got home at quarter to one, his reply to the babysitter when she asked him if he had a good time: It was SUPER AWESOME. Was he mocking me? Undoubtedly.
The best part of the night was reconnecting with a few people that I'd been close to in high school but with whom I had not stayed in contact. I loved catching up with a couple of my hockey guys. Unfortunately I missed talking with several classmates that I'd been looking forward to seeing, even though we were there for six hours. There were many old friends who weren't there, by choice or by circumstance, and I'm sorry they missed it.
In a conversation about a classmate in attendance who seems quite bitter and negative, I made a comment about how everyone is going through something, but that the water under the bridge flows more slowly for some than for others. Wow. Profound and poetic. Sad but true, even after twenty years.
And just when I thought I'd escaped any bizarre, uncomfortable moments, at the very end of the evening I ran into a very drunk classmate who nearly tackled me in a hug and said, "Oh, I am going to piss your guy off and kiss you right now!" I turned away just in time and he landed on my cheek. He told me that I was real and so many of our classmates were just fake, FAKE and he was SO SICK of all the people who had asked him how he was and what he was doing ("I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT THEY THINK!"). He then proceeded to introduce himself to Hammer Guy and inform him that I was one of the good ones, one that got away (HUH?) and how HG is a lucky, lucky man. I hope he made it home okay.
The Class of '90 is getting together tonight for their 21st Class Reunion. What a great idea. Hopefully it won't be another year or five or twenty before I see my classmates again.
I took a few pictures at the dinner table but that's about it, and I'm kicking myself for it. Hammer Guy hung out with a couple of husbands that he's known for many years and seemed to have a good time. However, his level of sarcasm increased throughout the night, so by the time we got home at quarter to one, his reply to the babysitter when she asked him if he had a good time: It was SUPER AWESOME. Was he mocking me? Undoubtedly.
The best part of the night was reconnecting with a few people that I'd been close to in high school but with whom I had not stayed in contact. I loved catching up with a couple of my hockey guys. Unfortunately I missed talking with several classmates that I'd been looking forward to seeing, even though we were there for six hours. There were many old friends who weren't there, by choice or by circumstance, and I'm sorry they missed it.
In a conversation about a classmate in attendance who seems quite bitter and negative, I made a comment about how everyone is going through something, but that the water under the bridge flows more slowly for some than for others. Wow. Profound and poetic. Sad but true, even after twenty years.
And just when I thought I'd escaped any bizarre, uncomfortable moments, at the very end of the evening I ran into a very drunk classmate who nearly tackled me in a hug and said, "Oh, I am going to piss your guy off and kiss you right now!" I turned away just in time and he landed on my cheek. He told me that I was real and so many of our classmates were just fake, FAKE and he was SO SICK of all the people who had asked him how he was and what he was doing ("I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT THEY THINK!"). He then proceeded to introduce himself to Hammer Guy and inform him that I was one of the good ones, one that got away (HUH?) and how HG is a lucky, lucky man. I hope he made it home okay.
The Class of '90 is getting together tonight for their 21st Class Reunion. What a great idea. Hopefully it won't be another year or five or twenty before I see my classmates again.
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| Way, Way Back: Friends from Elementary School |
I will treasure the experience last night and the conversations I had with some folks for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to any reunions but I sure do enjoy hearing about others.
ReplyDeleteI failed to attend our first class reunion. Heard the wonderful stories that made me feel I'd done good by missing it though.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you can move quickly or someone would have had a hard time looking straight with one eye cold-cocked shut.