A Quarter Century

We went to my 25th High School Class Reunion, old St. Clair High School last Saturday. We'd gone to my 20th, but I hadn't made it to any of the previous ones for various reasons. Mostly I was looking forward to seeing Curt & Le'Ann again, and Kailey. All of which, I did. But there were a few surprises.

The first one came right after we passed through Warrenton. There was a sign that said that Hwy 47 was closed at the Missouri River. Which meant an hour detour through Hermann. The reunion was in Washington right on the other side of the river -- but we took 94 from Marthasville through Hermann and back to Washington. Pretty drive. But I wasn't in the most appreciative mood at that point (I tried, really! I mean... what are you going to do?) By the end of the detour I had convinced myself that Sandy had told me it might be closed and I had forgotten about it (that would have been just like me), but it turned out neither was the case. She said they'd been inspecting it in the wake of the Minnesota bridge collapse and had closed it for repairs that morning.

The other surprises were much more pleasant. I didn't expect Dean and Nancy to make the trip down from Urbana-Champaign, but they did. I bumped right in to Dave who I shared a locker with in 9th grade and didn't recognize him but he recognized me. And doesn't that make you feel like a cad?

Almost everybody, once you get the name, is recognizable as the person they were 25-29 years ago. But before you got their name on many of them it was more like "you look familiar but I just can't put my finger on it."

This is really strange when it turns out you used to have a bad crush on someone and you're looking straight at them and nothing's clicking. (well not memory-wise anyway). At the 20th I didn't recognize Le'Ann -- part of that is because she was actually in the class of '83 and my brain was scouring for people from my class. She was just "Curt's wife" until she about kicked me in the shin for not remembering her. (Figuratively speaking, of course.) This year it was Kerri -- another one of my old crushes (none of these were reciporical, by the way!) I saw her mingling about all evening but couldn't place her until she was leaving. I was able to get in a quick hi and bye. She still looks great. So does Le'Ann.

Got to meet Dean's wife Nancy -- he did well there, by my impressions. But I think my favorite surprise was Christina (I know everybody calls her Chrissy, but that's not what I learned when I met her back in 5th grade). One of the most genuinely sweet and decent people you could hope to meet, and time has been good to her as well, physically. She was always nice to me, which meant a lot (especially back then). I wish I could say the same thing about me to her -- but unfortunately I do remember a period in grade school where I was probably less than nice to her due to peer pressure -- and I of all people should have known better since I was subject to about the same kind of abuse she was. Thankfully that didn't last long. Not one of the more proud moments in Phil history.

Suffice it to say that if the world were full of Christinas --- well everybody would be women. Ok, that's not where I was going with that. The world would be a much nicer place, though. Anyway, there she is with my very own lovely wife Vicki ... who liked her very much as well.

Four hours was much too short, really. The last one we had started in the afternoon and we didn't end up leaving until midnight -- and we could have gone on.

There were so many people I just enjoyed so much seeing again -- if I didn't mention you that doesn't mean it wasn't good to see you. There was really not enough time (especially after our detour). Which meant the whole situation wasn't conducive to a lot of picture taking (I know, who is typing this and what have you done with Phil?). So I didn't get many. I'm hoping we can email around and pool what we have. Might have a pretty good collection then.