Re-union-i-ted (and it feels so good)

Pictured: 

Front: Stacy, Lori, Lani, Mike, Travis, Christy;

Middle:  Brian, Todd, Darren, LaNay, Bob, Leslie, Crystal, Shelli

Back:  Don, Paul, Darren, Matt, Christina, Kaisha, me, Heidi

Missing:  Karen, Michelle

I'll admit - I'm not very good at staying in touch with old friends.  Facebook has helped.  This weekend reminded me why it's so important as I got to meet up with friends from high school, Ricks, and BYU. 

I won't mention the number of years since I graduated, but it's a lot.  Strangely, I was nervous.  I was a different person in many ways in high school.  I was a lot more shy, probably a little more judgmental, and definitely had more hair (okay, we all had more hair - it was the eighties, after all!) and less around the middle.  Sometimes, I'll fall back into that seventeen year old when I meet with old acquaintances.  I still tend to think of someone as "too popular to talk to" or "may not share my values".  It's dumb thinking - there is likely more in common than different and no one measures popularity after you "crash through the double doors" (thanks John Meyer).  I said a little prayer in the car that I could be more like I am versus how I was.

Night one - I picked up one of my best friends from high school, Lezlie.  Lezlie and I usually end up being each other's "date" for the reunions because her husband usually has to work.  Truthfully, it makes it easier.  Her family wasn't able to make it so it worked out for me to have someone to go with.  It was fun to go to her house.  I spend a lot of fun times at her house.  Lezlie basically had the basement to herself growing up so we used to spend a lot of time there.  It was fun to see her parents.  Her youngest brother, I found out, works at Melaleuca.  Small world.  She is as bubbly as ever.  She lives in Alaska, but we keep in contact. 

We had a get-together at Papa Tom's.  Surprisingly, the pizza was better than I remembered - and all of the people were too!  When we arrived, we were the first ones there.  We then saw LaNay.  She was telling us about the lack of turnout - less than 10% of our graduating class.  I saw some people that I knew, but didn't know well so I was a little nervous about the evening.  However, Lezlie and I had talked earlier that we weren't planning on staying long - boy, we didn't need a backup plan because everyone was gracious and fun to visit with.

Then some of my old friends came in the door - Charlene and Tricia.  I don't think I have seen Charlene since the summer after graduation.  However, she looks and acts very much the same - in a good way.  Tricia lives here in town and I NEVER see her.  She's not much for Facebook so it's hard to stay in touch.  Others joined in.

As much as I wanted to branch out and mingle, I didn't do as well as I wanted.  Some left early and my feet just froze to move to a different table.  But I talked to Travis and his wife - Travis is a pastor in the Bay area.  He's someone that I thought was anti-religion in high school.  His wife is from Singapore so it was fun to have that Singapore a connection with Melaleuca.  He is inspiring to be around.

I probably talked to ten different people, but I spent most of my time with Tricia & Lezlie.  In high school, the three of us, along with Wendy spent a significant amount of time together.  A lot of it was spent singing.  One of the guys we used to sing with - Mike - was also there.  Mike is the life of the party.  I wished the other three - Korry, Todd & Jeremy would have been there.  It would have been fun to sing an octet - although my voice is not even close to what it used to be.

Surprisingly, we closed the place.  I ended up finding so much more in common with people than I imagined - Sean, Bryan, and Gary, it was great to visit with each of you.

Saturday, we had a picnic.  The turnout was even less.  But, I know a lot of people were balancing the reunion and family responsibilities, so I understood.  I was excited to see my old classmate who was also my roommate at Ricks - Donna. 

She lives in Utah and has a one-year-old.  I help take care of my one-year-old niece and I can't imagine at my age carrying and be responsible for one.  I admire that.  She is a lot the same - kind and sweet.  We talked about getting our college roommates together next summer.  We just need to do it.

 

On my way out, I got a text that my roommate from BYU - Gina - was having lunch and could I join her and her family?  Gina was as kind and funny as ever.  She introduced me to stand-up comedy - Johnny B's in Provo got a lot of my parent's hard earned money.  She lives in California and has two BEAUTIFUL boys.  Her husband could not have been a nicer guy.  It was fun to catch up.  Miss you Jenice, Patrice, Ginger & Kristen!

Saturday night, we went to Mountain River Ranch for our final event of the Class Reunion.  I haven't been to the Ranch since we moved the Melaleuca picnic.  There were some new faces - which was nice to introduce into the mix.  One of the first people was Brian - he looks great.  Last reunion - no one recognized him.  This year, two other guys - Bob and Don - got that honor.  Neither one I recognized.  I've kept in touch with Bob so we were able to have things to talk about.

Many of the spouses were great to get to know.  I was impressed with how outgoing some people are.  I want to be more like that! 

There was a shootout by the Ranch folks.  Cute show.  Then out to dinner and the show on wagons.  We had the "class clown" of the Ranch on our wagon - Frank.  He wanted us to sing the Jitterbug song from the Wizard of Oz.  It's actually a legit song that was cut from the movie.  We got there and got seated - our table was pretty empty.  Dinner was really good - steak, potato salad, roll, corn on the cob, baked beans and huckleberry ice cream!

The show started with a lot of "Ol' West" kind of songs.  Then Frank came on the stage and stole the show.  He was really funny.  A little later on, they pulled some "volunteers" from the audience for a song.  It's the old Hee Haw song about "You found another and Pffft you were gone".  One of the girls was Stacy.  Stacy has always been a firecracker so they chose right.  When Frank was singing to her, he did the Pfft (raspberry) to her.  She jokingly acted offended and spit right back.  Unfortunately, the gum in her mouth came out and got stuck in the fake beard.  CLASSIC moment.  The staff at the Ranch were in stitches!  They even posted on their FB site that we were the best crowd of the year!  If this link works:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g43QfSeWH0&feature=youtu.be (go to 3:10 to see the spit take)!

When it was done, we all stayed to take a few pics and I got to talk to a few people I had missed the night before - Lani, Stacy.  And Todd arrived late so I got to see him.  Todd has built a very successful business and is well known.  We also went to grade school together, but ran in different circles.  I wasn't sure how it would go to see him, but he was great - very down to earth!

Taking a class picture was comical - especially Matt.  He is a crack-up.  Then we headed back to the parking lot.  Again, Lezlie and I were some of the last to leave.  It was really fun to catch up with some of the people.  I had someone say to me that she was surprised that I didn't have kids - she thought I'd have six of them because I would be a great mom.  I was super flattered by that statement.  We weren't that close in high school so for her to say that with knowing me so little, it made me feel good.

We extended the reunion a bit to meet with one other classmate - Jennie.  Jennie, LaNay, Lezlie & I met on Tuesday since Jennie didn't make the reunion.  Jennie didn't get married or have kids either so we are a little bit outside the norm - especially with the Mormons.  It was fun to be a little unfiltered with a group of girls.  Honestly, although it's been years and we live very different lives, we talk like time hasn't passed.

I was very glad I went and got to get reacquainted and maybe even just acquainted with my classmates.  It was a great experience that I'll think about for a long time.

In closing, my brother made the comment that with Facebook and other social media, class reunions were probably a thing of the past because people can stay in contact with who they want to.  I hope that's not true.  I have learned from this experience that while in many ways we are the people who we were, we are all much more different than we used to be.  You can't get to know people from a couple of posts.  The goal of a reunion is to reflect on the past, see how much we've changed and how much more we are alike than different. 

If my classmates are reading this and didn't attend, I hope you'll be there in five years  (LaNay already set the date and it's just before the 4th of July festivities so you can make a long weekend out of it!).  Save the date (June 30th & July 1st) and save your money!!!

We talked a lot about you and wondered how your lives were going.  Hopefully, we are more tolerant and kinder than before - at least I hope so.  It doesn't really matter if you have less or more hair, short or tall, fat or thin, gay or straight, single or married, enjoy a cold brewski or a cold water, if you have met your life's dreams or if you are struggling.  We just miss our friends and want to see you!