the    sides

We finished up the weekend with dinner at the Denver Aquarium and then a picnic today at a park.

I have to be brutally honest here - I actually enjoyed the weekend. No… I loved it. I wasn’t really sure what to expect or even if there would be anyone there to talk to. Instead, it was one great conversation after another.

The committee is actually contemplating doing a 25 year reunion on a cruise. If that happens, I’d have to go. This weekend has been that good of an experience. Amy and I now have some local friends to catch up with over the next few months.

So many names and faces that I reconnected with this weekend. Lots of laughter and memories.

Couple of highlights for me.

Senior Skip Day. Karen Willet actually reminded me of this day. We went downtown, goofed off (Paul and I were masters of this) then I got my Ford Tempo buried in mud in an off limits section of Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center.

Paul and I got out of the mud to push us out and we both sank up to our waists. My girlfriend at the time was NOT a happy camper as we had to call her dad to come pull us out with a 4 wheel drive. Of course, Paul’s dad got in on the act as every time I saw him after this day - he never failed to mention what a dork I was.

They had a slide show last night and about 3/4 way through it, I leaned over to Amy and said “Looks like I escaped.”

I spoke WAY to soon.

One of the last pictures was a close up of me and Margaret Bryan (we were dating) and I had the Richard Marks look going on - long, curly, permed hair in the back. On top of that I had the big, round, ‘lawyer’ glasses going on. The reaction from the class was brutal. And honestly, throwing down that look - I deserved it.

Today at the park, one of my classmates commented that Rangeview had drastically changed once our class left the building. I imagine every class feels that way but he what he went on to say actually made sense.

“We were the first 4 year class at that school, all of us lived in the neighborhood, almost all of our parents were blue-collar, no frills people. Yeah, we had our little groups but for a class our size, almost everybody liked everybody else.”

He’s right. I’m not sure why it all played out that way in high school. But for me to move into Rangeview the close to the middle of my junior year and to have as many friends as I did speaks volume of my classmates. Most of them had grown up with each other, through elementary and middle school. Yet, I never felt like an outsider.

Great weekend. So glad I went.