I’m gonna bust down the double doors
So this was an interesting weekend. I headed back to Tallahassee for a special event. Erica, my beautiful girlfriend made the trek up from Honduras for the weekend as I invited her to be my guest at a very special event. My 10 year high school reunion. I think it should be renamed the “What are you doing now?” weekend. I’m pretty sure I said that phrase at least 1,000 times.
I graduated from Lincoln High in 1998, when gas was in the $1.25 range. Remember those days? Yeah, I didn’t either. Proof of that was evident as I walked into Cafe Cabernet on Friday night for the first unofficial “event”. It was the cocktail hour mixer to where everyone stood around, sizing up the event and trying to decide who to talk to first. I stood there, clutching my Guinness trying to decide who these people were. I tried to explain to Erica that I spent most of high school hanging out with people who were older and my Senior year I finally started getting to know my fellow classmates.
As faces started to become a little more familiar, I was able to strike up a few conversations with people who I had not thought about in years. Everyone seemed to be doing well and nobody was currently incarcerated. Of course, if they were incarcerated, I guess they wouldn’t be making it to the reunion. Usually, there is not work-release program for this kind of event. But I digress.
Erica and I headed off to dinner and then met up for a drink with Jordan, one of my best friends from high school, college and the present.
The next day was the tour of Lincoln… which we pretty much slept through. We did make it up as the festivities were closing down. I couldn’t believe how much had changed. The parent drop off area was now the new cafeteria and the old bus ramp was now a well manicured courtyard with a statute of a Trojan soldier as the centerpiece. Most of the rest of the school still looked like a prison.
That night we headed to the University Club at FSU for the main event. Dinner, expensive drinks, dancing and small talk. I mentioned before the “What are you doing?” question. Whoever I talked to, that was the first question. I decided to test out if people were listening or if they were just being polite so they could tell me what they were doing. Throughout the night I was a Civil Engineer, Tour Manager for Maroon 5, Professional Harpist, and creator of the iPhone. Most of the time I was greeted with that look your dog gives you when you talk to him. In the end, being a Catholic missionary was just as shocking for most people as any of the the other careers I invented.
There was also a slideshow. A terrifying terrifying slideshow. I saw pictures of myself from when I looked like an emaciated refugee. Seeing those pictures, I am suddenly grateful for the impact that alcohol and steak have had on my life. I can’t imagine the stares I would get if I were that skinny today.
All in all it was a good weekend filled with reconnecting with friends, “Remember when” moments and a nice piece of baked chicken.
The adventures begin this week friends! Goodbye Minnesota party on Wednesday and California on Thursday! Talk to you then!
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