Reunited and It Feels So Good...

I've been putting off this post in the hopes that I would actually have time to post some pictures I wanted to show off, but it doesn't look like I'm going to get a chance to. Instead I'm going to bow to pressure and write about the reunion now and just post the pictures later.

So, on to the reunion. The reunion was great. Honestly. It was great. I had a great time and sincerely wish it could have gone on longer. At the same time, the reunion was one of the most disappointing experiences I've had in a long time. I know that sounds really incongruous, but let me explain.

What made the reunion great was getting to see and hang out with my friends. It has been a long time since Tristan, Zach, Max, Tim, Nicole, Megan Whittle, and I all got to hang out. It was, you know, the Class of '95 crew getting together for no other purpose than having a good time. What made it even better was that we got to bring along our wives, husbands, girlfriends, and/or children. We spent time together catching up and talking about the new experiences we were having, rather than just reminiscing about times past. It was a great feeling to be around each other and to each have enough good stuff going on in our lives that we didn't have to resort to talking about "the good old days.'" I could see my friends actually being who they had the potential to become back in '95. Sure, not one of us is perfect, but it's nice to see your friends really come into their own.

However, the good hanging out didn't really even happen at the actual reunion. So, I guess that's where my first real disappointment comes in. The fun really took place at non-reunion activities, like at Nick and Ben Schicker's kickass all-day cookout. The "official" reunion took place over three days, with a get together on Friday night at the DC Centre, a tour of North on Saturday morning, drinks at Stir bar on Saturday night, and a picnic on Sunday. Most of the activities turned out to be pretty lame. To be fair, though, I heard that the tour was pretty cool and most of us skipped the Stir thing, opting instead for partying at Casa Del Schicker.

Friday, though, was the big night, the big get together, the big disappointment. First off, the food pretty much sucked and the music was even worse. The music came courtesy DJ Mr. Phreeze (aka the 3rd best DJ in the Midwest) and was not only terrible, but way too loud. I thought the point of a reunion to get together and catch up with former classmates, not to scream until your throat gets sore so the person standing next you to can actually hear you, while no one dances to whatever crap the DJ is spinning. That said, if the intent was to bring back memories of time wasted at North High dances doing the exact same thing, then they succeeded. Ah, memories. On the plus side, it was open bar, so it wasn't a total waste.

The big disappointment was compounded by very few other people who I was looking forward to seeing show up. So, there were really no surprise appearances or even surprises in general . All I really wanted was a couple of big surprises and they didn't even need to be good surprises. I'm talking "Whoa! She got fat," to "Can you believe they got married?" to "You joined the seminary?" Any of these would have been fine, but there were really none to be found.

I take that back, there were a couple of surprises. The first coming from having a rumor confirmed that a certain overacheiver had not only become a heroin addict, but had been through rehab twice. This rumor was even confirmed by the recovering heroin addict himself, who has since apparently gotten his act together and seems to be doing well for himself. The other surprises were seeing two old friends patch things up, a former couple who absolutely can't stand each other actually be in the same room together without incident, and an old friend who didn't really get along with Tristan and Tim say some really nice things about them.

Other than that, it was really just being with a few of my closest friends in the same room with a whole bunch of other people I didn't really know, or could care less if I ever saw again. Therein lies both the blessing and curse of having a small, close group of friends. I mean, as great as it was to see and hang out with everyone, it felt like something that we would be doing anyway. And not only that, but we could be doing it somewhere else. Somewhere with better food, music, and alcohol. Somewhere like Ben's. So, the next day we did go to Ben's, and that was when the reunion became worth it. But by then it wasn't really a reunion anymore, it was a party (it just happened to be a party that was 10 years in the making.)

Sunday, started off with yet another pretty lame event. The picnic had pretty low attendance and was windy and hot. And I don't mean hot in the Paris Hilton sort of way, no I mean feeling like you are being blown on by a giant hair dryer any time you venture outside. The food was only slightly better than on Friday, but it would have been hard to be any worse. Again, things got better after the planned activity when, later that evening, the Max and the Dalleys came over to join Megan and me for ice cream. The ice cream was good and we had quiet conversation while watching little Elijah Dalley play with toys. The highlight of the evening came when Eli got to witness his first ever thunderstorm and really enjoy it. If there's anything cuter than an adorable 2-year-old boy squealing with delight, raising his hands over his head, and exclaiming "Thunder! Thunder!" then I'm pretty sure I haven't seen it.

So, in all, it was a great weekend, but I don't think we needed a reunion to have a great weekend like that. Sure it was an excuse get together, but hopefully we might be able to put together something similar on our own. Does that mean I'm swearing off reunions? Hell, no. Why not? Well, because there's still people I really want to see and I'm sure there are bigger and better surprises in store. And besides, even if I wanted to swear them off, I have a feeling a certain Class of '96 member would drag me to hers anyway.