Vignettes from the Lead.r High School Reunion

My 20-year high school reunion a few weeks ago went surprisingly well. The people who were really cruel in high school did not come, and the people who did come had turned into really nice, interesting people.

My sister came with me to the reunion, and we left Jim and the Sprout at home to batch it. This was a very good decision. Partners at reunions really don't have a good time. It's not about them at all.

Vignettes:

...A high school reunion is a lot like speed dating. Every conversation was at top speed and jam-packed with important data, along with an urge to connect. Whew.

...We spent a great amount of time talking about playing together as little kids. It was not the high school years that we wanted to remember together, but stories of sibling rivalry, smoky weiner roasts (what is more fun than running around with a burning stick??), and the hazy evenings of playing kick the can behind old man so-and-so's garage. It was gooood nostalgia.

...People seem to think that they know what librarians do, so no one had any questions about my job - a mildly annoying feature of most social occasions, when you're a librarian.

...A boy that my sister dated in high school was there, and even old boyfriends improve with age.

...For the first time ever, the Schmidt girls got stopped by the cops on the way home from the dance. Beans was in the police car for ages, blowing into a breathalizer, as I quietly had a meltdown in the truck at our stupidity. After all, the dance hall - like all places in Lead.r - was only 8 blocks from our house! But hey, no one walks in small-town Saskatchewan when they can drive. Beans did not get a ticket since she drank responsibly, but it was a tense moment.

...No one in the class had a job that was completely out of character. It was a surprise. I thought there would be more shocking stories than there were.

...Lead.r has just added yet another giant fibreglass wildlife sculpture to the town landscape this year: a bobcat. A bobcat?? There haven't been any bobcats around there for decades!! And I'm not convinced that the burrowing owls, giant kangaroo rats, and the bobcat are drawing tourists to the extent that they are meant to.

...Sunday morning breakfast at the Lead.r Hotel was as good as ever. Pancakes. Coffee. Bacon. Mmmm.

...Ooh, almost forgot the giant goose! Beans and I had the truck, and so we brought the giant goose blind decoy back to Saskatoon with us - a giant fibreglass decoy of our dad's that you can hide in with your rifle when hunting. We brought it back to install in someone's yard as a joke - and it was a great success.

All in all, a great weekend and a good way to heal some of the bad feelings that one gets about high school. I'd recommend it.

And I'm as surprised as anyone to hear me say that.