I was the sidekick-I can hear myself laughing a la Ed McMahon right now-"That's right, Johnny!" Clermont Northeastern High School is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year in style. On Friday night each decade was invited to a different local bar to meet other alumni. Saturday night is the dinner/dance at the county fairgrounds[i]. After much consideration (Do I, don't I, do I, nah, okay), I decided after much discussion with my friends[ii] to attend...alone. Even if Greg had been in town, he wouldn't have gone-Reunion #5 in 1994 decided that-so if I was going, it was stag. Leaping way outside my comfort zone because a friend[iii] made an offer I couldn't refuse (to watch Joey), I drove the 30 minutes to a local watering hole. Walking through the parking lot, I noticed a lack of empty spaces. Yikes, lots of people did show up.[iv] I did enter Greenie’s though, and headed for the first person I knew-Hey Jeni! Now I have seen Jennifer[v] around since her children attend the school in which I teach, but she was very kind and didn’t send me away when I approached her table. Her tablemate Monica even recognized me-nice, since I hadn’t seen her since 8th grade. We had a nice, even playful, conversation until I felt able to mingle on my own. On my way to the bar (duh), I spotted my high school best friend! Shooweee![vi] I also ran into my longtime, growing up best friend[vii] and her brother. Since Jeni, Terra, Missy and I were (along with Christy) the sum total of our class-5 out of 203=2%, I’m not sure what I was worried about. Hopefully other classmates showed up later.
Although I don’t miss high school and would not willingly revisit those years, I am glad that I attended this reunion for several reasons.
- License to stare until you identify someone-definitely cool.
- Being able to stare and then use the excuse that it didn’t count as staring because I forgot my glasses-also cool.
- Being identified as my sister by the crazy party hound-could work in my favor in the long run.
- The long and the short of a high school reunion-long: people really don’t change-nice people stay nice; others don’t. Short: It only lasts until I leave.
[1] If you’re bored or don’t have tickets, try the St. Louis Festival down the street!
[1] Thanks Cindy and Terra!
[1] Thanks Jen!
[1] With over 1000 people graduating in the 80s from CNE, the percentage of attendees isn’t really that high, but it is a small place.
[1] Jeni is strictly her 80s moniker.
[1] Shout out to Terra!
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