Staples 35th High School Reunion

10/09/09: The first event at the reunion was a social at a bar in Southport, CT. It was Friday and the club was packed. Parking was a little difficult. I was a bit early. Walking up, after having decided that turning back wasn't an option, I thought about who would be there, what people would look like, and how I would be accepted. At the hostess station, I announced I was with the reunion and was directed to a couple of standing tables near the bar. I went in and seeing no one that looked at all familiar, at what I thought were the likely tables, I headed for the bar. There was another couple at the bar that were waiting to be served, and I started chatting. I explained I was here for a reunion and that I didn't recognize anyone yet. The gentleman said that I was brave, and that he'd never been to a reunion. He'd have been worried about how to socialize with folks he hadn't seen in years. After a time, I realized that folks at the standing tables were greeting new people and receiving little stickers to put on their lapels. I headed over there. A tall man I'd have never recognized as a high-school classmate introduced himself. He remembered me. We'd been in some classes together. Another man, seated eating nachos, looked at me at the same time that I looked at him and we both said each others names at the same time. Tim and I had fished together during junior and senior high-school. We laughed and took each other in for a moment. The man sitting next to him looked familiar now, and I realized they themselves were old friends. I made the connection and asked if his name was Eric. Sure enough, I'd made a connection right away. These were folks that had been up to some of the same shenanigans that I'd been up to in high-school. I was connected, and tension faded. Ironic, but as I think about how the entire visit ended, 3 days later, I realize that the things some people said as I was leaving was about the man I had become today, as opposed to who I'd been in high-school. That's significant because I did indeed change, and was rewarding for me to hear it from another, by the same folks who at this time I was so concerned about being accepted by. I stayed fairly late into the evening. I met half a dozen old comarades. Eric and I agreed to fish Sunday morning at one of the old haunts. I was glad to have gotten to Westport. I went back to Art and Nancy's house and went to bed. It wasn't very late.