Class Reunion Time (But Not Mine)

We spent the evening at Ted's class reunion. I will state from the outset, that I really did not want to go, but never said anything to Ted. I knew he wanted to go because his good friend Ron is here from Texas, for the reunion. Having been in charge of a couple of class reunions myself, I know what all goes into the planning of one of these events, and Ted is the kind of person that you need to plan for, but still shake your head about.

Yes, my dear husband Ted just YESTERDAY paid for us to go. And the cut-off date was over TWO weeks ago. Can we say "procrastinator?"

This is probably a good place to mention that Ted and I did not graduate the same year, but we did go to the same high school. We are a year apart school-wise, so I know quite a few people in his class. Our high school (back then) graduated around 300 or so each year, so you always knew the people in the grade before you and the grade after you.

Anyway, as I said, I was really not interested in going. When I found out where it was going to be held, I sort of rolled my eyes, but thought to myself, "it'll be okay...it will really be okay" and just kept hoping that it would be.

We have a local pond/lake that many people used to frequent years ago. I was only there once and when you're only 12 or 13, your standards aren't very high, so I thought it was okay back then. It was a LAKE, darn it, and that means that when you get in to swim, you can't see your feet. It also means that there may be fish in the water, or worse yet, SNAKES, or maybe even something else. Way back then, there was a small concession stand, but I swear I don't remember any restrooms.

Over the years, fewer people went to this small lake and I believe it even closed down for a while. Then someone bought it and tried to "bring it back" but wasn't very successful. Several years ago, another guy bought it and really put the money into it. Apparently he added cabins and a very small golf course, a nicer concession stand, hopefully some decent restrooms, and a lodge.

And that's where the class reunion was. On the way out there, I even commented to Ted, "they sure as heck better not have port-a-johns because I will NOT use them." Ted is somewhat familiar with the guy who owns the place now and said that he would surely have something decent. Okay...we'll see about that.

We pulled into the place and for the first time in decades we both saw the little lake, and some cabins up in the woods. Hmmm....not too bad. They even had some decent, but small, buildings around. Well...this may not be too bad. All cars are to stop and check in at the main building, which was really rather nice. I said that we were there for a class reunion and she told us where to park. We rounded the building, and to say that I was SHOCKED was an understatement!

The parking lot was just fine, but I was very impressed with the lodge! It looked like a big log cabin type structure from the outside, with a big porch all around, and some fires and little torches lit for ambiance. WOW, was all I could say. On the porch they had round picnic tables with seats too. Eventually we made our way inside and I was even more impressed. There was a nice entryway, and REAL RESTROOMS! The tables and chairs they had inside were nice, and they had a fireplace that you could see from both sides. There was a kitchen there too, although the food for this event was catered.

I was just very pleasantly surprised. I'd heard that it was nice at this place, but everyone's standards are different. However, it WAS nice.

Before I get too far into the pictures, though, I need to mention something. After Ted finished working this morning, he went out and bought himself some shirts. He had said that he didn't have a decent shirt to wear tonight. My darling, dear, sweet, wonderful husband is a rather conservative man, and would prefer to fade into the background whenever possible. I respect that. So when he came home and showed me the shirts he bought, I just sat there with my mouth open. It's not that I didn't like them (I did), but I never in a million years would have imagined that he would have chosen to wear shirts like those he purchased. Ted is a pocket t-shirt kind of guy.

Just when you think you know someone, they go and pull something like this.

After we ate, everyone had to go outside for a class photo, and even though Ted ordered one from the photographer, I took a few myself. Of course, I couldn't get a good one with everyone actually IN the photo. That's why I'm a teacher and NOT a photographer.

Earlier in the evening, I took some pictures. This is Ted, Ron, and SugarBear. SugarBear has a real name, but I still can't call him by that. He'll always be SugarBear to me. They all three look like they're having a great time, and they did.

I rarely permit myself to be photographed, but I just went with it tonight, hahaha. Here is a picture of Ted and me, along with Nora and Ron, and yes, I have their permission to "publish" it. Of course last week when Ron and Nora were here and they gave me permission, Ron was feeling "no pain" if you get my drift, hahaha. He wasn't like that tonight, but I mentioned that I was going to put it in the blog and he didn't say no.

As with any class reunion, it's interesting to talk to people and catch up with their lives. I'm so impressed with a couple of women from this class, who in recent years, went to college and became teachers. In reading through the information that many class members sent in to be put in the directory, many people have certainly gone on to do wonderful things with their lives. I was once again impressed.

Some people have really changed, like the guy who grew up down the street from me who FINALLY visited a dentist! This guy was a smoker and drinker from WAY back and would think nothing of using every swear word created and invent some of his own, and told me tonight that his oldest son is a PREACHER out west. He started laughing when he told me and said, "I'm not sh*tting you!" Of course he had a smoke in one hand and a beer in the other when he told me this. Then there was the guy and his wife who came up from Columbus for the event, and he still looks like he just stepped out of GQ, and his wife is still beautiful and in shape. When he hugged me, I could feel the ripples of the muscles in his back. (I know, I know, too much information, hahaha). Several of the women looked better than they ever did in high school. There were quite a few that I didn't recognize until I looked at their name tags.

Now I'm glad I went. There were even a couple of people there from my graduating class because they had married someone in this class, so it was nice to catch up with them too.

All in all, it was a great evening and we really had a good time.