Has It Really Been THIRTY Years?

Many of you who are reading this Post are reading Cheaper Than Therapy for the very first time. You are not familiar with the premise of this Blog, nor how that premise disappeared in the 2nd or 3rd post.

This little experiment was SUPPOSED to be my forum for getting all the noise out of my head by blasting it into Cyber Space and saving me $100/hour with a Shrink. I'm tired of me. My few friends are tired of me. So, I concluded that I would stop annoying you with ME and try this platform. It's Cheaper Than Therapy. Right?

Then, an interesting phenomena occurred. I would post a cynical, negative, bitter opinion about something really INSIGNIFICANT and the private messages would flow in....."Kev, I'd never admit this in the comments section of the blog or your FB wall, but I've been thinking the same thing for years!"

So, I quickly concluded that you are nuttier than I am and it was my task in life to educate you....Bless Your Hearts! I have SO much to teach and you have SO much to learn!

Today, however, there will be no life lessons. This rainy, Monday morning will probably just be a bunch of incoherent "scatter-shooting" about the RLT Class of '83 Reunion.

Only the Class of  '83 would schedule a FOUR DAY event! Are you kidding me? Early on, Teressa expressed ZERO interest in attending. Her "30 year" was last year and she could not have cared any less. The obvious "man thing" to do was to say, "If you're out. Then I'm out." But all along, I think she sensed that I would end up going even though I tried to feign no interest.

The game on Thursday night was bitter-sweet. Our 40-50 folks nearly doubled the crowd size. The evolving demographic change in the school is obvious. The team is still horrible. The Cheerleaders--Bless their Hearts! Didn't watch the Band or those "Vivacious Lionettes." Perfection was the goal in the early 80's. Political Correctness, these days, has made these activities more inclusive! Need I say more?

On Friday night, the "informal" mixer was at a bar (of course!). I was a little hesitant, but I was actually getting requests to show up! Who woulda thunk it? The saying goes, "if it's too loud, you're too old!" I'm TOO old! Conversation was tough! And everyone just wanted to chat! I was thinking a church Fellowship Hall was more in order. But of course, that would have made the mandatory drunk-fest not feasible.

It was REALLY good. I was not the only one drinking Virgin Rum and Diet Cokes. Funny when you order it that way! Bartender just rolls his eyes and fills a plastic cup with Diet Coke!

There seemed to be no "posturing" and no one seemed to be on the outside looking in. Judgementalism was apparently non-existent! It was good. Real good! (One Editorial Aside---Pound for Pound, I like our chances to whip any Class of '83's A**!)

I did not purchase a ticket to the Main Event on Saturday night. Teressa wasn't interested and I wasn't going to get my one "funeral suit" dry-cleaned to go Solo. But the Committee cut a deal for anyone who wanted to join in after dinner to socialize, dance, and chat....and of course drink. Some of the Friday Night crowd asked me to join. Most of them just wanted to see Teressa. By this time, she had made commitments for the evening and could not join in. Oh well! The Virgin Rum and Diet Cokes costs $4.25 at the Cash Bar. Ouch!

Just some general observations:

1) I really needed to attend. The only other Event I had attended was a "5 Year" Event in 1988. I felt like I owed everyone who was at that Event an amends for very unfortunate behavior. You can read between the lines on that one. Did not drink virgin drinks that particular night!

2) There was one girl there who I treated very badly in HS. I poked fun of, ridiculed, and laughed at her for 4 years. Following her on Facebook, I have found her to be a beautiful child of God and a great example of what a  fine Christian Lady looks like. I needed to tell her that in person.

3) There was one dude there that I was in class with EVERY single day of my HS career. We are on POLAR OPPOSITE ends of everything on this PLANET. It was good to see him. Our differences seemed insignificant.

4) The KNOCKOUT was there on Friday! This girl TAKES over a room! We had lockers 4 or 5 down from each other for 4 years! I never said a word to her in HS. We are friends today. I think that's pretty cool.

5) The old girlfriend was there. She got married exactly one week to the day after Teressa and I did. Twenty-four years and still going. Not keeping score.  But, that puts us in rare company with not a whole lot of other couples.

6) I will name a few names. Kevin Patterson, Mike Resnick, and Craig Fyock are men I love dearly. They were there and I am HONORED to be considered their friend!

In High School, I was a preacher's kid in a very conservative faith tradition. I simply did not participate in a lot of things. I do not know what a sock-hop, Homecoming Dance, or Prom looks like. I was NEVER pressured to drink by anyone close to me. I did get some odd reactions about the whole dancing thing. Go figure!

Finally, with about three songs to go, I gave into "peer-pressure" at 48 years old. I got onto the dance floor with folks who had never seen me dance. It's likely, they hope to never see THAT again.

And we danced! We danced like no one was watching! We danced out of friendship. We danced to celebrate. We danced cause we were blessed enough to have the health to do it.

I lost count. But at least 13-14 names were read of classmates who are no longer with us. Some of them I knew. Some of them, I didn't.

I am sorry they weren't there. I'm also sorry that I can think of a number of living classmates who did not join us that I would have loved to see.

For one night, status, money, designer clothes (I hated you guys with the Alligators on your shirts in HS) didn't seemed to matter. We celebrated 30 years! And we danced.....