Old Friends And Classmates

This has been one of those Summer weekends that I'll wish I had back come October or November.  It is hot and sunny and I have been pretty lazy yesterday and today.  I did get a couple small projects done, then headed straight back in to the air conditioning.  When I'm running out of time outside before the snowfall this Winter I'll wish I had this time back, but rest and relaxation is important, too!

An old high school friend, Gary, came back to the area from several states away this week.  He has a family reunion, some business and personal matters to attend to and then our class reunion is next weekend.  We originally planned for him to come by yesterday afternoon and spend the night last night but plans changed, and understandably so.  I've seen him only a couple times in the last 20 years and am looking forward to seeing him again.  Unfortunately, he lost his lovely wife of over 20 years late last year so he has some things to take care of while he's in Wisconsin.   I know I will see him at the reunion but hopefully we can get together some evening this week. I think it would be nice to spend some personal time together catching up before dealing with old high school classmates.

We also have a classmate/old friend, Lane, that lives right here in Madison that I am not normally in touch with.  Actually, we may have bumped into each other once or twice but other than that he's never returned my calls or emails whenever I happened  to reach out to him.  I called him from work one day last week to once again let him know that Gary would be in town and to try to get the three of us together.  Gary was better friends with him than I in high school and was hoping to see him, too, so I had been trying to facilitate and had called and emailed Lane with no response.  When I left a message this time I ended by saying that "you never respond when I try to contact you so I'm not calling again."  Then I deleted his number and email from my phone.  Guess who called later that night?  Oh, it was good to talk to him finally, and I will try to get us all together this week, but I'm pretty much done with him for good after this.  No response - especially repeatedly - is disrespect, in my book.

So next weekend is the 30th class reunion.  As I've mentioned, I have never been to a reunion of my class.  Most all of those I graduated with I have not seen since - and haven't missed.  So, why am I going?  Well, I already paid the fifty bucks.  And it has been 30 years now.  I did not grow up with these people, having moved to town for the seventh grade, and I've always felt like an outsider with them.  I expect I will feel much the same at the reunion, but I don't have anything more than that 50 bucks and my time next weekend invested in this.  I will go, smile a lot (hopefully genuinely), shake a lot of hands and make it back home long before I turn into a pumpkin.  So, besides wanting to see Gary, I guess I am going for the novelty of the occasion.  My expectations are purposely low so I shall not be disappointed.