Okay, now I remember why I never went to high school reunions before.
DH and I arrived at the reunion site, and I began to look around for my freshman college roommate—she had signed the guest list, so I knew she was there somewhere. Meanwhile, I scanned the room for familiar faces.
There were none.
Oh, wait--I did see one person, Richard, who resembled his younger self. My roomie said he could shed light on where another friend, Marion Turnipseed, was.
TS: Richard, I'm sure you don't remember me . . .
Richard: Sure I do—your hair was more silver last time I saw you.
TS: Richard, I'm a natural blonde.
Richard: Are you still selling real estate?
TS: I, uh--
Actually, I think the room was full of people, each of whom knew two or three other people, and all were trying to figure out who the rest were.
There were a couple of reasons for this. First, the event was a combined reunion for two neighboring high schools, each of which had a senior class of several hundred people. There were maybe eighty to a hundred people, total, at the reunion.
Second, as I started to calculate how many years had passed since I had seen any of these individuals, I realized why I didn't recognize any of them. And now I was also depressed.
And then there was the food, or UFO's, as I called them (Unidentifiable Food Objects). They made school cafeteria food seem like fine dining. As best we could figure, the menu consisted of:
Breaded Minced Fried Shrimp Parts (I denied finding any shrimp)
Creamy Meatballs Sans Meat
Pigs in a Blanket without the Blanket
DH and I took turns trying to guess what the food objects were.
TS: What is this little curly thing?
DH: I think it's mostly breading.
TS: What's inside this little round object?
DH: I'm not sure—is it meat?
TS: Is it a vegetable?
DH: Is it—
TS: A mushroom?
DH That's it! Let's go out for sushi.
The Big Money we paid must have gone to the band. Yikes.
Visiting with my old roommate was fun. It turns out that she lives in a town that I happen to visit a couple of times a month, so we exchanged contact info and planned to get together. And I did discover the whereabouts of my other friend, Marion Turnipseed.
Mostly, though, I remembered how great it was to escape high school.
5 comments:
Oh Darn! Not even a good rendition of "Thriller!" to go home with? It's a double whammy when even the food is unforgettable in a negative way! Oh well, at least all was not lost. It sounds like you made some great RE-UNIONS! Glad you had only minor regrets. Lady R.
A blog--Mrs. Rogers would be so proud! Do you remember when she made us write those short stories? BTW, you were probably the only woman in the room whose hair is still its natural color. I plead the 5th on that one. Yesterday I was talking to someone who said her hs class has reunions every year. That's a scary thought. Maybe in another five years we'll be too deaf to hear the band (and we certainly know better than to eat the food). Not sure whose idea the band was anyway, but it was amusing to watch some people re-live (or attempt to re-live) their youth on the dance floor. There are just some moves that a 50+ year old body has not business making. Interesting experience overall--and the best part is knowing you are alive and well,and you don't sell real estate!
Oh, no . . . did you have to remind me about Honors English? I can still feel the panic upon being assigned a short story--didn't seem that short at the time. That may be one of those experiences that, as DH says, is "better left un-blogged."
Anyway, welcome to the blog! It's great to know you're nearby.
I can only imagine that reunions are incredibly awkward. What do you say to people that you haven't seen in so long? I don't know if I am up for it...EVER.
I know! Well, if you're me, you say . . . exactly nothing--except to Roomie, and she and I tried to encapsulate our entire adult lives in a couple of sentences. That was kind of fun.
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