Amidst loud 80s music, the room started to fill. I found myself chatting with all kinds of people. I felt I was very social, which is not how I would describe myself at all in such a situation. I found myself using a line with a lot of former classmates, and it was totally true; “I don’t think I ever talked to anyone this much during high school.” The best thing about (re)meeting such a number of people in a short amount of time is it allows me to constantly use my best jokes. I found myself talking to people I knew and clearly recalled. But I also spent a decent amount of time talking to people I didn’t really know or have any specific memories of. Usually, my walls would be up and I would be coming across as extremely awkward in such a situation. Not here, I was on. Maybe those Coronas were helping my cause, too.
I had more than one person come up to me, look at my name and say, “I don’t remember you.” I was fine with this, as this was pretty much my MO in school anyway. And a lot of times, I didn’t remember them. And it was cool, no one got offended.
I really thought going in, my BS detector would be going off. Maybe it’s from all the swimming with sharks in the music biz, but I think it was more just my incorrect preconceived notions. There was a very cool vibe going through the room. I really felt everyone was real and genuine. Yea, that kinda surprised me.
For example, one of the jocks actually came up to me, introduced himself and we had a nice conversation. I don’t think that ever happened during HS. There was no antagonism. Wow, color me surprised. And as long as we’re talking about the jocks, they were all there, and damn it, if they still looked to be in shape. I was really hoping for pot bellies and hairy ears, but they all looked good.
I was happy to see that quite a few couples who were together in HS are still happily together today. I think that’s very admirable in this day and age. I was also surprised about how many classmates ended up marrying each other. Then again, I was such a loser then, I had no real idea of who was going out with who, so they coulda been together back then anyway. I’m not a big sucker for romantic stories, but ya always gotta root for the high school sweethearts to stay together.
I ran into an old classmate (well, I guess we’re all old these days) who I went to grade school with. She remembered me as being Charlie Brown in the 3rd grade Xmas play. See, I even had talent back then. We were talking, and a guy ran up to me to see what my name was, then ran off. OK, a bit strange. A few seconds later he reappears, pointing at me and laughing in a Nelson Muntz like manner. OK, again, not all that strange, since I recall kids did this to me all the time in HS. I follow him, and a group has the yearbook. I prefer to think they were laughing at how I looked before, and not now. At least that’s the hope I cling to.
You didn’t have to go to my school to figure out who went there. All my classmates heads were on constant swivels to check everyone else out. “I don’t remember him. Wow, she turned out good.” A few hours in, and I haven’t had anything to eat yet, so I duck over to the munchies table for food that was many levels more edible than the crap we had at the cafeteria. I sit down for a bit, and some girl that I swore I never talked to in HS sat next to me and we had more conversation than we ever had before. T came to steal food off my plate, just like she always does, then leaves like nothing ever happened. Then 3 girls sit down across from me. Like most girls, they don’t recall my undistinguished HS career. One girl calls me over and asks, “I have to ask, are you a musician?” I reply with my stock answer, “Well, I play the radio and the iPod, and that’s about it.” Upon hearing my answer, all 3 girls split like I have swine flu. I sat down to finish my crumbs by myself. How apropos, the nerd sitting all by himself eating. Sheesh, some things never change.
I am surprised how many of my classmates went on to be teachers. It’s not like anyone back then was pro-teacher. No, I can’t recall any kids that thought teaching was so cool, that they would devote their life to it. T goes to the bar, where she encounters a colleague of hers. Now, I had gone to HS with this girl. It goes without saying she was popular, and I was a nerd, so we had limited interaction. Since that time, she went on to be a teacher, and I’ve run into her and spoke many, many times with her at various teacher functions. “What are you doing here,” she asks T. “I’m here with Kev,” T answers matter of factly. “Kevin?” Yes, that’s right. After all these years, she had no idea I was that nerdy Kev from HS. I guess I should be complimented.
All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised about the whole night. It went far better than I could have imagined. I think I put in a good accounting of myself. Maybe I changed a few people’s perception of me. I think I was pretty social, which is a big accomplishment for me. I talked to a lot of people, old friends, folks from FB, folks who I have forgotten about. I saw a lot of laughing, which is always a good sign. I was really glad I blew off my family obligation to go. It was good/cool to see how everyone turned out. I have to say, it looks like everyone turned out pretty good.
In fact, I probably have more positive memories of the reunion than of the four years anyway. I really enjoyed catching up with different people, and laughed harder and longer than I thought I would. It was a fun trip back. Not enough to make go down in the crawlspace to dig out the ol’ yearbook; you should see the size of the spiders down there.
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