20 years later
I haven't been in high school for some 20 years now. I can't say I've missed it; high school was a tough time for me. It was a tough time for most folks, I reckon. For whatever reason I was the outcast in school, and my class was so small that I was the ONLY outcast. So when I left St Margaret's Episcopal for college, it was pretty much "good riddance" ...
... for the next twenty years, which brings us to a few months ago. I got an email from Mark, one of my few friends in high school. He wants to reconnect and stuff; I think it's great. A lot can happen in 20 years, people can change a whole lot, and I give him the benefit of the doubt (I've never really fully released or forgiven or gotten over my rotten treatment in high school, but it's over and done with). We have a brief exchange, which soon drops. He's a lawyer in California, and I figure he's busy. No big deal.
A little while later, I get an unexpected phone call from him. Our 20 year reunion is coming up, he says, and he'd like me to come out. Well, this is the first indication I've had that anyone from that era wants to see me, so I'm all over it. He even says he's willing to help make it happen. He leaves his office number ... which is garbled by the mobile phone he's leaving the number from. Luckily I have caller ID, so I call the mobile back and leave a message. Which is never returned. I email him, and no response there either. So I forget about it.
Yesterday I get another call from him. "It's a week to the reunion," he says, "and I wanted to make one last effort to contact you for it." He's willing to put me up, feed me, and so on ... he's really trying. The more I talk to him about it, the more excited I get: Seeing old friends and acquaintances, finding out why he says I've affected his life so much, and going to California ... what's not to like?
I hang up with him, and I'm very excited about looking up airfares and such. I'm very focussed on trying to make this happen, when Gina asks me to to take out the trash. I snap at her, but help anyway. We finish that, after much grumping. I finally get to look into airfares: the cheapest roundtrip I can find is $425, on such short notice. My heart sinks, because we can't do this. I ask around, and there's not really any help to be had.
Gina brings "reality" into the picture. We can't afford the airfare, plus which there's the issue of wages I'd lose: I work on the days they're holding the reunion. Yeah, thanks for letting me figure that out on my own.
So. The short list of what I'm upset about:
- not being able to go to the reunion, missing out on going to CA
- having to pay $200 for that stupid fucking ticket I got the other day -- first in 7 years or so
- not getting good sleep
and that is all. Yes, I am In A Mood.
... for the next twenty years, which brings us to a few months ago. I got an email from Mark, one of my few friends in high school. He wants to reconnect and stuff; I think it's great. A lot can happen in 20 years, people can change a whole lot, and I give him the benefit of the doubt (I've never really fully released or forgiven or gotten over my rotten treatment in high school, but it's over and done with). We have a brief exchange, which soon drops. He's a lawyer in California, and I figure he's busy. No big deal.
A little while later, I get an unexpected phone call from him. Our 20 year reunion is coming up, he says, and he'd like me to come out. Well, this is the first indication I've had that anyone from that era wants to see me, so I'm all over it. He even says he's willing to help make it happen. He leaves his office number ... which is garbled by the mobile phone he's leaving the number from. Luckily I have caller ID, so I call the mobile back and leave a message. Which is never returned. I email him, and no response there either. So I forget about it.
Yesterday I get another call from him. "It's a week to the reunion," he says, "and I wanted to make one last effort to contact you for it." He's willing to put me up, feed me, and so on ... he's really trying. The more I talk to him about it, the more excited I get: Seeing old friends and acquaintances, finding out why he says I've affected his life so much, and going to California ... what's not to like?
I hang up with him, and I'm very excited about looking up airfares and such. I'm very focussed on trying to make this happen, when Gina asks me to to take out the trash. I snap at her, but help anyway. We finish that, after much grumping. I finally get to look into airfares: the cheapest roundtrip I can find is $425, on such short notice. My heart sinks, because we can't do this. I ask around, and there's not really any help to be had.
Gina brings "reality" into the picture. We can't afford the airfare, plus which there's the issue of wages I'd lose: I work on the days they're holding the reunion. Yeah, thanks for letting me figure that out on my own.
So. The short list of what I'm upset about:
- not being able to go to the reunion, missing out on going to CA
- having to pay $200 for that stupid fucking ticket I got the other day -- first in 7 years or so
- not getting good sleep
and that is all. Yes, I am In A Mood.