We're so old the band didn't have a clue what music to play. They finally stumbled onto the Beatles and Stones and at least that got some people to their feet. It wasn't until I got the internet-connected DJ to play Sweet Etta James and James Brown that things got rocking. I wound up dancing with two old heart throbs, at the same time! That was a hoot.
The room quickly divided between the drinkers and teetotalers. A few of us, a lot of them. Ran into an old friend who said he quit once and it was the worst day of his life. Cautioned against trying it.
I think it comes from my days of make believe cowboys and western movies but I always choose a seat in the corner with my back to the wall so that I can survey the room. Black Bart ain't gonna sneak up on me, no-sirree. I'm sure I wasn't the only one, but it was somewhat sobering to look across that room at people I haven't seen in fifty years. Pretty much ran the gamut of on-the-cusp old folks, from wheelchair to marathoner. Several lost in Viet Nam, several lost to time, many couldn't be found.
It became clear to me that sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, was the better path traveled as I was easily one of the most healthy and fit of the bunch and I'm not exactly a fitness nut. The meal chosen by the organizers pretty well sums it up; steak with chicken and potatoes. I suppose years of pasta, fresh vegetables and seafood has its rewards.
I did get to reconnect with a few old friends, some of whom I went all through school with, from first through twelfth grade. Though we have hardly seen or heard of each other over the years, it was as if we had never been apart. Childhood friends know each other on a root level. I read somewhere that you should choose your life mate from the same area you grew up in because you share the same values. I think there's a lot of truth to that.
And then there's the friend who was only an acquaintance in high school but who fate has thrown into me over the years. Stationed at the same air base in Germany where we worked together on several projects. Ran into each other on campus at college. One other meeting the circumstances I can't recall, and who now lives in the same small North Carolina community as my daughter. The next meeting will be deliberate as I promised to call him the next time I visit so we can lift a beer.
All in all, a pretty good weekend. But boy, how time flies. Carpe Diem.
I miss the fact that I never got to stay at one school long enough to make those kind of friends and have a reunion..I would be going to a 52 year old reunion. yell them fuckers are all dead.
ReplyDeleteI believe life-long acquaintances is one of the beauties of small town life. For me, small neighborhood. Now, the small town has grown to over a million people. Not so much fun anymore.
Deletea friend whose blog I read did a post on aging today. she's about to be 60. She calls this decade or two the happy hour of life. I can get behind that. I'd have been over there with you and the drinkers. long live sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll! I have only been to one reunion and have no plans to ever attend another one. I went to the 20th. didn't especially like those people then and hadn't grown fonder of them 20 years later. I really don't even get the attachment to high school. It was something to be got through to me.
ReplyDeleteIt was mostly something to be gotten through for me too and, not being a socialite, there are few people I even knew, much less liked. But, there were a few and it was good to see them again if, probably, for the last time.
DeleteI fell off the face of the earth as far as my high school reunion people are concerned. In fact I bumped into this dude I knew from high school and his wife one time at the beach several years ago and they told me that a rumor went around saying I was dead.
ReplyDeleteI thought about attending the upcoming high school reunion that year just to say I was alive but other than that couple most everyone I had some connection with has flown the proverbial hometown coop. Like Ellen, the people who I found would be going were those I would have rather avoided.
One thing about mine was that I was in the band and that alone makes you a little weird. Several friends from that were there and we had a blast just hanging out.
DeleteI went to number 30...ha ha ha ha they were mostly far wealthier than I but I certainly have had a far richer life, from that day to this. I only wish I had taken a few dozen copies of the books to sell.
ReplyDeleteOne hippie poet is worth a dozen bankers any day.
DeleteI went to my reunion last month. Like you, there were people there that I went through first grade to senior year with. It was a great time. And we sunk back into a comfort zone that was as if decades had not gone by. I think that for those who grew up in a small town where everyone knew your family, getting back together can be a blast. It was as if for those hours, the clock had been turned back.
ReplyDeleteI recognize it isn't lasting, but certainly fun for a while.
DeleteI missed my 50th but I'm still in touch with many of my HS mates from the nunnery boot camp I attended and from our brother schools. I used to go to reunions on a regular basis. As I would look at each in turn, I'd think, "Gosh, how old "they" look." Of course, liquor was always consumed in magnificent quantities in Sewanee.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how many times I heard "you look great" or "you look just like you did then" throughout the room. Of course, none of it was true.
DeleteSpeak for yourself. ;)
Deletegreat post and pic!!
ReplyDeletei missed my 25th.... still hoping to be able to attend the next one.... which is approaching my 40th.
carpe diem indeed!!
carpe diem indeed.
DeleteI've only stayed in touch with my girlfriend from senior year on a regular written basis although we haven't seen each other in forty years. Also, a couple of neighborhood friends on Facebook, but there are too many miles to ever go back.
ReplyDeleteMight be worth the journey. I skipped the earlier ones because of any excuse not to go but found that I really enjoyed this one. Probably won't do another.
DeleteIsn't it strange how all of these folks are frozen in our minds as they were when they were 18? Reunions are certainly a reality check with me running to a mirror to see if I aged as much as those other old people.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, my mind isn't capable of remembering what people looked like that long ago. I do remember my heart throb as a sexy little thing and now she's as big around as tall.
DeleteMy 50th this year too. Went to the 20th, eye-opening experience. Can't imagine what the 50th would be like. Too far to go for a night out.
ReplyDeleteHolte, it seems like 50 years since we've communicated. Don't know what happened but now that we have re-found each other I'll be visiting.
DeleteI have nowhere for you to visit Mr. C. Yet.
DeleteNow that's what I call a savvy blogger. No work, just comments. Perfect.
DeleteI've never gone to any of my high school reunions. It's pretty unlikely now, since I live 3,000 miles from where I went to school. It would certainly be shocking to see people in their 60s whom you haven't seen since they were teenagers.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I wasn't shocked because I took a good long look in the mirror before going.
DeleteWhat I got a kick out of was how everybody looked like their parents. Pretty bad. And then when they started talking, we ALL got young again. I'm three thousand miles away, myself--made it to my 25th but not my 40th.
ReplyDeleteI also had the chance to talk to the fellow who asked me to the ninth-grade prom. My first date. I didn't act right. I was so nervous I quit eating breakfast for, as it turns out, thirty years. I ran away from him all night. I was so embarrassed, and never really talked to him after that. I met him at the reunion and apologized for the way I acted. He said "all night all I could think of was how wonderful it was that I got to take this pretty girl to the prom. I had a wonderful time." Sheesh. What a load off. And no, I was not a pretty girl.
Pretty is as pretty does
Delete