wildernessVoice

Well, my 20th reunion has now come and gone. I last wrote about this back in August and described the anxiety I was feeling and how much I was looking forward to it. I was really getting excited as I slowly came into contact with friends I hadn’t spoken to in such a long time. And all I could think about was seeing them again and even getting to see some others too.

I’m happy to report that the evening was great. I could not get over how many faces I couldn’t recall, like at all. But then again there were so many that looked as if they hadn’t changed at all. My goal really wasn’t to reconnect with everyone. That would have been too hard to do, given the number of folks in my graduating class. Oh… and we all agreed that Classmates.com really sucks when it comes to emailing old contacts. I can remember sending out messages to numerous folks and only getting a couple of hits. Kambi Kritlow (now Hunter) was the first to respond and we touched base in early June. But apparently Kitty Marks and Scott Wudarcki also responded. It’s just that I didn’t get their emails for more than a month after they sent them. Scott couldn’t make it, and I wish I could have seen him again. But I now have his contact info so that I can fill him in. I only got to respond to Kitty yesterday morning, but I knew she wouldn’t see it before the actual event.

When Chelle and I got there, it was funny. The bar area was so crowded as I tried desperately to recognize different folks. Then I was rescued. The first to come up to me was Scott Campbell . It was amazing how he seemed to recognize everyone. I was glad to have him on my side as my guide to my past. The funniest part was listening to him recount so much of the past. The best was when he reminded me of Tommy Brink getting hit by that bus back in elementary school. Now, Tommy and I weren’t just great friends, we were also next door neighbors; and I couldn’t recall that event at all. Then he reminded me of this one chick with the glass eye. Who in the world was that??? LOL!

Anyway, Scott and I had been friends in high school, though we apparently went as far back as elementary school. I guess there were others who lived on my street that went as far back as then. I knew Kambi and I had gone as far back as kindergarten, though I only remember her as far back as junior high. She was always great to me and it was really nice to see her again. I’m looking forward to chatting with her more at the picnic today. She reminded me of others who had a long past with me. Tracy Tyler was another. Tracy seemed to recognize me right off the bat too. She made me feel special as she came up and started talking with me. Apparently I was always nice to her and that made me quite glad.

The real kicker for me was running into Jeanne Waldman and Bonnie Ford (last two on the right, respectively). Bonnie made my night when she said she never actually despised me in high school. In fact, she seemed to wonder why I would ever think that. She was with Kitty (far left), as we talked while waiting our turn to get drinks. She cracked me up when she made a comment about people cutting in front of me because I wasn’t paying any attention. Anyway, I told her I thought the way I did because of the “colorful” language I tended to use back then. I was always trying to get some attention and I used just about any means possible. Both she and Kitty expressed that I was funny back then. So, I’m pretty glad that was the take away after all of these years.

It took me a while to talk to Jeanne. In fact, I might not have talked with her at all had Kitty not told me that she was actually there. I saw her name on the attendee list, but she was never on any of the email lists. Shame on her, huh? Just kidding. Anyway, the lighting was dim and I couldn’t recognize her as her red hair looked brown. But then, I saw someone in the far corner of the ball room talking with Julie Gotcher. Just then I could tell who it was. Well, I couldn’t ever get the nerves to go up and talk to her in high school, but last night wasn’t a problem. I walked across the room and asked “Jeanne?”. She turned around and the next thing I knew, we were in a great conversation. It turns out she’s a software engineer for a very respectable company. She’s also big time into mountain biking and road cycling. Listening to her talk was great. She still has that same, great laugh I remember from years ago and it was nice to hear it again.

There are so many others that I ran into besides these and I do not wish to alienate anyone who I ran into. These are just the highlights. It was also really nice to see Linda Crooks. She and I didn’t get to talk much last night as she and her sister Marie were quickly becoming the life of the party. But I am hoping to talk more with her and her husband at the picnic today. She has become quite a good friend over the past couple months. We were never that close back in school, but she was always nice, even back then.

I’ll probably post more on this later. It’s safe to say that I accomplished what I had hoped to. And again, it was a nice time. Chelle and I left pretty early, around 10:30pm. I hadn’t seen Brendan in almost two weeks and I wanted to go pick him up. Needless to say, he was precious last night.

I must admit that I felt badly for Chelle. It’s one thing to go to your spouse’s reunion, not knowing a single face. But it’s an entirely different thing when your life together is at a transition phase like ours is. Though she didn’t say anything negative, I’m sure she felt quite awkward. While I did too, it wasn’t anything like it could have been. And I mean that in a very good sense. I’m glad she came. And while she may not be with me at the next reunion, if there is another, I couldn’t see being at this one without her. She has helped to get so many kinks out of me over the years and has suffered through the pains of my past. I think this was an opportunity to get some closure.

Anyway, there’s more to come; so please be watching.

-Mike

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