My internet access will be spotty, but I should get a chance to post a few times while I'm gone.
4 hours ago
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
High School Reunion
Here goes. We're flying out tomorrow to Iowa for my 20 year high school reunion this weekend (Red Oak). I don't know what to expect. I'm sure I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb ... the hippie long-haired liberal among a bunch of restrained midwesterners. But I could be wrong.
My internet access will be spotty, but I should get a chance to post a few times while I'm gone.
My internet access will be spotty, but I should get a chance to post a few times while I'm gone.
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8 comments:
Have a great time.......!
Guess it's going to be a bit weird though....?
Thanks.
It will be exceedingly weird. I haven't really talked to any of them for at least 15 years.
I skipped my 10 year that was a few years ago, and I didn't even have an excuse about not being able to travel, since I only live about 15 miles away. I really don't know if I care enough to bother with my 20th. Maybe by then I'll be curious enough...
You'll have to report back your encounters...
I'm now in Iowa, blogging over a dial-up connection. Wheeeee!!
Laura, I completely identify with your tepid view of reunions. I have them too. I had no desire to go to my 5th, 10th or 15th. Small town Iowa doesn't hold any appeal to me and I must resist the possible schadenfreude that I may feel this weekend. All that being said, I'm far enough removed from high school that the hate I had for that part of my life has lessened. I'm more comfortable in my own skin and I think I can enjoy the reunion just as it is. There will be food, copious drinking, and I think most people will not be trying to put on too many airs. Most people will be fairly settled in their lives, have kids, and there shouldn't be a lot of extra B.S. Or at least I hope that's the case. We'll see.
Wow... Dial up....... That brings back (frustrating) memories.
Yeesh- My mom grew up in Stanton, IA where Red Oak is where you went if you wanted some culture (like A movie theater). I grew up going to that area of Iowa a couple of times a year- I feel your pain.
I skipped my 10 year a few years ago. I was actually back in Chicago that weekend, but the reunion was on my birthday and it would have cost $160 to go (in a crappy low rent suburban dinner-theater venue). I figured that there were a lot better things to do on my birthday than spend the evening searching for the half-dozen people I wanted to talk to who might not have shown up. What was wierd was getting a notice for my 10 year junior high reunion 4 years before. What the heck would we have to talk about besides having recently graduated from college?
CK -- My wife's family live about 10 miles outside of town (Osceola). I don't think they could even get any high-speed out here even if they wanted. Maybe satellite? I'll have to put the pressure on.
Heathen -- That's crazy! Stanton, the town with the coffee pot water tower. My high school girlfriend was from Stanton. No girl in my own class would give me the time of day, so I had to go to the little neighbor town where EVERY house is white.
That's funny about you calling Red Oak the town with the "culture". Sadly, when I was growing up, that was the case. When I was old enough to drive, even Red Oak couldn't contain us any more and we'd drive up to Omaha.
Junior-high school reunion? That's definitely strange. I didn't go to my high school 10 year because I thought it was too soon after college. A ten year junior high one would be even worse.
Ultimately, we decided to hit my 20 year because we typically come back to Iowa every spring or summer to visit my wife's family anyway. And my reunion will cost only $20 (it's at the Elks's ... woo-hoo!). Red Oak doesn't quite have enough culture to contain a dinner theatre. lol
Yes, Stanton's nickname is "The Little White Town." Supposedly the nickname refers to the fact that all the houses are painted white, but I think there are some other reasons for this nickname as well (My mom was born in 1941 and remembers that there was a big stink when she was a kid and a Catholic family moved into town and one of their kids started dating a kid from the town). My grandmother, one of my uncles, and a couple of cousins still live there. I plan to go back for funerals only at this point.
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