20 YEARS???

Well this was the weekend. My 20th high school reunion. I have to admit it was more fun than I expected. It was so awesome to reconnect with people I haven't seen in MANY years. I am sad to say that there were many I had forgotten. Immediately upon seeing them though some of the memories came back. There were a few instances where I forgot things and was reminded only because someone else remembered. There were specific people that I really wanted to see and I got to see the majority of them.

It was so nice to hear how wonderful you've aged, how great you look, how sweet you are, how fond you were thought of, over and over again. That happens so rarely and to continuely hear it I just kept thinking, 'man, I could do this reunion thing again.' Most amazing to me because I came in the middle of my junior year and the whole time I was there I was dating someone that had already graduated so I didn't spend a lot of time socializing with my class. I worked with many of them at the local Pizza Hut or ran into them at parties.

It was refreshing to see that the class as a whole looked fantastic. I have to admit I think that we all looked great. We have matured, gained a few pounds a few gray hairs a few wrinkles.

There were several other observations that I made:

• BIG hair, that 80s hair was a big topic. We all had it. Looking at the old yearbooks we almost all had the same exact hairstyle. Big, long, permed hair. The more product the better.


• The FFA clubs are overlooked. I think those guys have turned out to be some of the most handsome. Apparently, I was distracted by the jocks and bad boys and didn't notice the farmers...whew!


• Those that were into the party scene pretty heavy either have worn themselves out with the same behavior or were out of shape in the partying activities. One guy that should have such a high tolerence due to MUCH experience was so wiped out he was trying to talk but the words just weren't making sense.

In true THS '88 form Friday night was spent at a local bar owned by none other than one of my fellow '88 graduates. The Cunningham twins operate My Brothers' Place in Troy, IL.

Saturday evening there was a dinner and dancing at a hotel in Fairview Heights. I have to say that the dinner was really nice and the entertainment was great. We had a DJ that provided lots of great 80s music. There was even karoke which wasn't around when we were growing up. There were a few alcohol challenged individuals that gave it a shot. They throughly entertained us all.

To prove maturity there were some great examples of responsiblity. There were several couples that although they didn't live far, planned ahead and just stayed the night there at the hotel.