The 20-year reunion was a blast! Didn't recognize a lot of the guys - many have followed the age-old tradition of gaining belly and losing hair in your thirties. The girls pretty much looked the same and were much more easily recognizable and I'm not sure if that's good or bad ;-) For the most part, the snotty people I don't care about were still snotty people I don't care about, and the interesting, creative people are still nice. My friends were still my friends and I hung out with several whom I hadn't seen or heard from in 20 years, which was fantastic! We discussed having a drama geek reunion next summer because pretty much none of the male-drama geeks were there and we got to talking about many people in other grades who we'd really like to see again! I hope that happens! It'd be a blast! A lot of people were curious about my career, creative endeavors and why the hell I changed my whole name. I was as patient as I possibly could be as many people called me the "S" word and gently explained my reasons to them, but as usual, my stomach flips every time someone calls me that. I know they don't get it; they might think it's weird, but I'm very happy being called Liz or Elizabeth or Lizzie and I'm very unhappy being called the "S" word. I wish m y dad would get that through his incredibly thick head (you'd think it'd be less thick with no hair on it, but it's not true!
This is Ronda Tworek, my best friend from junior high. She moved away before 9th grade, and we kept in touch for a while, lost touch for a while and have been back in touch for about 5 years now I think. She came to the reunion as my "date" and it was interesting to see how many people recognized her and remembered her (especially when she took her glasses off!) Anyway, I love her to death and am so glad I got to hang with her this weekend!My family is...
wait for it...
one year older.
Most people don't really change that much, and that's not necessarily a good thing in the case of a few people. If an arsehole thinks you're an arsehole, who cares? If a good person thinks you're an arsehole, you should examine that.
My 3-year old nephew is a naked tornado of a child. Will be interesting to see how he grows up. He doesn't listen to anybody, but I noticed if you look him in the eye and speak kindly to him instead of yelling at him, he listens better.
My 11-year old nephew is a sweet, nice, typical kid who I adore (who refused to smile for the camera). I always enjoy spending time with him. 
Their new house. 4 bdr with study, 3 car garage, fireplace, 2nd floor laundry and 1 bedroom apartment (with full kitchen and laundry room) in the basement. $250,000 in Mpls. $1,000,000 in LA with no yard and no basement. They hope to move in by Labor Day (10 months late, but better late than never!) It's a gorgeous house. I'm jealous.
Hope I wasn't one of the snotty people (yikes) Great to see you - keep on bloggin'
ReplyDeleteLiz, I was one of those "S' word people - and I don't even know why! I've been calling you Liz for a long time - Debbie Leiva (Keppler) and I talk about you every once in a while (about stuff you've posted online). It was a weird mental block that night, I guess! Anyway, I hope you know me well enough to know that I was not trying to deliberately disrespect you! I enjoyed visiting with you - and Ronda, too. I was surprised myself at how many people asked about Tammie Dady (Kaslow), too - and wished I had made her go. I think she would have gotten a kick out of being recognized and remembered... I know I did.
ReplyDeleteWendy, you were certainly not one of those snotty people!
ReplyDeleteTerisha, I didn't really expect people to remember to call me Liz, but I have to admit it did bother me when a couple of people said, "You'll always be "S" to us!" I hate that!
Wouldn't a drama geek reunion be fun! I agree, so many of my high school friends were in different grades. Only a handful were in my class and I still talk to most of them. I'm glad you had fun at the reunion and thanks for posting the pictures, it was nice to see people I knew too!!
ReplyDelete