Reunited

I have to admit, my 20th reunion was really fun! I guess I'm used to having a decently fun time hanging out with people I hardly know, so connecting with people I used to know was pretty cool.

The event was in the old Mater Dei gym, which was just as I remembered it. The campus, however, was unrecognizable. They even have their own pool now (I was a swimmer, so this mattered!!!). I didn't take a tour, but got plenty lost enough getting in and out of the place that I was able to see the basics.

The question of the evening was: "What have you been up to?" What kind of question is that to ask someone you haven't seen in 20 years? Totally unanswerable. But what else is there to say, really to get a conversation started.

A good person to ask that question to is Larry, one of my best friends' (Ann) husband. I think he knew more people at the end of the night than I did! Hanging out with Ann and Larry was definitely a highlight. I even got some dancing in with some dips!

It was also interesting to remember some of the stories that I would have totally forgotten. A woman named Amy came up to me and said: "Remember how we started a huge powder fight in the locker room freshman year? I got detention for that!" I did too, but would have never remembered that!

Bad hair was also fun to remember. Everyone had photos on their badges and thank god -- there are some people who I would have never recognized. Imagine, there are some women living in my community with new last names and kids the same ages as my kids. We could be in school or other activities together and I would never know that we hung out together in high school! That is a bit sad on my part, I guess. The price of being clueless -- but to my defense, if you totally change your look and your name, I don't have to remember you!!!

It was interesting to talk to people who thought being "out of sorts" in high school was unique to them. I think that was the night's biggest lesson: We were so high school and didn't know it!

Reunited and it feels so good ... and now it's DONE! : )