It's almost like I was really there... Really
So, I was a week late for the actual reunion. I was still lucky because two of my friends were still able to make time to visit with me. We went to the same restaurant/pub that they had the original reunion at. I got there just minutes ahead of them and circled the place for parking. There didn't seem to be an actual lot for the place, but there was an empty lot across the street, so I parked there. Just as I got to the front door of the place, both of my friends pulled up and honked to let me know they were there. I was actually afraid that we wouldn't recognize each other (it has been 20 years) right out, but it turned out that I had nothing to be worried about.
We headed inside and got a table and some beers. We quickly launched into catching up. We all broke out pictures, both old and new, and spent some time looking them over. Some of the pictures were of us together many, many years ago. Wow! That's all I can say. They really took me back. They also shared pictures from the reunion the week prior. There were more faces in the pictures I couldn't place than there were ones I recognized. I actually felt a little guilty about not being able to place names with the faces. We quickly caught up with what everyone that attended was up to these days. I then shared some pictures I'd brought that covered the last 15 years or so.
Over dinner and a few more beers, we did some serious catching up. We all talked about what had been going on with our lives over the last two decades (wow, using the word decade really makes me feel old). It was really nice, though, talking with just the two of them. A lot of people attended the reunion and it would have been able to catch up that way with that many people. Instead it was just the three of us talking and that worked out very well. These two friends were actually two of the closest I had back when I was in school with them and I was really happy that out of all the people that had gone to the reunion the weekend before, these were the two that could make the time to meet me.
Joe used to live just one street away from me. We grew up living near each other and became friends very early. He would stop by my house and we'd walk to school together every morning and then walk home together. He was one of my best and closest friends throughout school.
Shelley was also a close friend of mine in grade school. Back when I first started to realize that all girls didn't have cooties, she was one of the first that I'd noticed to be oddly absent of said cooties.
We spent nearly four hours in that restaurant talking. When we got ready to leave, we decided to go to one other place because at least one other friend from school would probably be there. We went over to the other place and I did get to see one other friend. He was working as the DJ for the place, though, so I didn't get to talk much with him. We had a drink and then decided that it was getting late. We headed out and took a few pictures together and said our good byes.
I had a great time catching up. I warned them that I'm terrible at keeping in touch. I am. But, I will try in the future to make it more often than 20 years that I get in touch. Can't be that hard, right?
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