Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Class Reunion...In Reality

So, briefly said, I sucked it up and attended the last few hours of my 10 year reunion, much to the request of a dear - and highly inebriated - friend. What the heck? Free beer, right?

I walked in, and upon scanning the fifty or so faces in the room, I didn't see a single one I felt all that comfortable approaching. It was quickly concluded that the above-mentioned friend was in the mens' room...potentially "making more room" for beer.

A small round table surrounded by five female classmates shared polite hello's. One of the gals at this table I would have never called close, but we got along well, as did our brothers, and she greeted me with a hug. OK, ice breaker...check. She and I exchanged the basic info...kids, job, home, etc. Then moved on. Aaron and I played wallflowers for another minute or two, scanning the room once again, until above-mentioned friend managed his way out of the mens room. I finally relaxed at this point.

It was pointed out to me that liberals still made a great minority in the group. The lack of shock balanced out the level of funny. There was a great many people I never had the chance to say a word to, and I'm pretty OK with that.

At one point, there was some drunken discussion about a class orgy, and at the 15 year reunion we could bring all the 5 year olds and play "who's your daddy?" The friend who started this conversation is a classic freckled redhead, so you can imagine the jokes that wrote themselves. Thankfully, I've come to learn that this man's wife is one of the coolest people ever.

Throughout the night, a few more people approached Aaron and I, some of which I expected, others I was pleasantly surprised by. Aaron managed to connect with a classmates boyfriend, which is good since I kept accidentally ditching him. (Thanks for taking it stride, sweetie!) Much of my cynicism went away once I was asked this question; "Well, are you happy?" Which I met with a resounding "Hell yeah!" "Well, that's all you need, then."

The night closed with a very tipsy, yet very sweet compliment. I know he's reading this blog, so he knows what was said. (You do remember, right?) To those who took the time for me Sunday night, both expected and not, thank you. There is hope for this world yet.

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