I never professed to be a great writer.... just a random one.
So I got a call from a friend who is a reader of this piece of drivel blog and was informed that I had committed a great faux pas. Apparently after writing for all that time about the reunion and the search for "the outfit", I neglected to say what I ended up wearing. I'm very sorry for all of you who were on the edge of your seats waiting for that bit of info. So to make up for it, I will give a full account now.
It was a bright and sunshiny day. I had yet to find the outfit that would make me perfect in the eyes of the other people going to my high school reunion that evening. I woke my darling husband up, something he hates on a weekend morning, and declared that we needed to get a move on so we could find me an outfit, get him some pants, and get my nails done in the few hours we had remaining. So about 3 hours later when we finally leave the house (aarrgghh) we head over to the men's store first. The kids create havoc as they run amok. Oliver knocked over a life size cut out of George Foreman and then made a huge mess of himself when the nice cashier gave him some candy to eat. Charlie just wanted me to carry her the whole time, which normally wouldn't have been a problem, but I was wearing the heels I was planning on wearing to the reunion and didn't have super balance. I have a big fear of falling down in public and teetering about on unfamilliar shoes and carrying a wiggling 20-some pound toddler is a quick way to make that fear become a reality. Anyways, 7 doesn't buy anything for the reunion, but stocks up on tennies and Astros hats for his family back home. Our next stop was Lane Bryant/Lame Giant in the fabulous Valley Plaza (America's largest one story mall if you didn't know). I came to realize that clothes shopping with my husband is something I never ever want to do again. I don't know if he was just trying to find ways to annoy the shit out of me, or if he was really just that clueless that particular day, but he was making me insane. I would take something into the dressing room to try on and show him, only to find he had actually left the store and was sitting out in the walkway area with the kids. I don't know about you, but I don't feel particularly comfortable walking the entire length of a store in my bra, or whatever it is I want my husband to see. When I did get him to stay put he would make comments about some outfit I had at home that he liked better than whatever I was modeling for him. Finally we decided on a simple tailored shirt to go with the I had at home.
THE OUTFIT: A red, tailored long sleeve shirt, black and white pinstriped pants, really cute black leather wedge heels with a white stitching and a silver o ring connecting all the straps, an awesome new bra (Lane Bryant Balconette style) and the obligatory tummy-holder-inny-thing.
Once I got dressed I felt great. I didn't have time to get real nails done so I just got a manicure to look like french tips. It worked for the evening, but of course chipped off by the next day. I felt very pulled together in my outfit and then it became a non-issue. I could worry about other things... like was I going to trip and fall down and was my husband going to make me dance with him.
I had a great time. I ended up talking to my friend Susan more than my friend Jennie, which I felt bad about. We just had more stuff to talk about, like the kids and such. I loved seeing Jennie though and liked her husband. I will make an effort to write her more often and find out what we have in common now. Susan and her kids came swimming at our house the next day which was fantastic. It was so surreal seeing my kids playing with the kids of someone I had known since kindergarten. I never really thought anything like that would happen.
I also found out that another friend thought I was mean to her. She always thought I was being snotty and such when I was really just too shy to talk. I didn't really begin talking to people until my junior year and then it was only to people I already knew well. Amber, the one who thought I didn't like her, has the type of outgoing personality that tends to make me want to crawl in a hole for fear that they might try to talk to me and I will be exposed for the social retard I am. So we cleared all that up and had a good laugh.
My friend Matthew (see horribly embarrassing unrequited love entry) didn't get to make it after all, which was a huge bummer. I knew before hand but it still sucked. I missed him once I was there with Jennie and Susan again. Our little group always had an amazing energy of its own and we fed off each other. It just wasn't the same without all our key players. I really want to meet his wife too. After all his trial and error dating in high school, I'm curious to see who he ended up with.
And I can't finish this entry without a word about Boris. Boris was another member of our little group. I didn't really get to know him very well in high school which I regret now. I was getting to know him once we were in college and emailing and calling each other. He came to visit me at school and I made the trip up to Berkeley to visit him and our other friend Mary. I was really starting to be comfortable with him and cherish him as a truly odd, but wonderful friend when he went missing and then was found murdered. I was in Georgia for the summer when my mom called me to tell me he was missing and then later about what happened. Talk about feeling helpless. There was absolutely nothing I could do from where I was. Not that there was really anything I could have done anyway. His parents never had memorial service or anything. I still think of Boris at odd moments, like when I was at my storage unit recently and found my ID card that Mary pilfered and sold to him for a nickle, and that he wouldn't give back for a day. I always smile when I see ski gloves. He had some he wore year round and would set them up on the desk to flip the teacher off. Red and white Starlight peppermints will always be Happy Mints to me. So it was very sad when they showed his picture at the reunion along with the other people who had passed away and it made me miss him all he more since he should have been there and it just highlighted the cruelty and abruptness with which that experience and his life was taken away.
Well... I hate to end on a sad note but such is life at times. I could leave you with a joke but I can't tell one to save my life. And forget about making them up. Just ask 7. They're awful. So I guess I can leave you with a trite, but nonetheless true reminder about keeping in touch with people and cherishing the friends you have today, because they might not be here tomorrow.
