The Reunion Review

We came.  We saw.  We kicked ass(es), namely our own.  We Partied like it was 1992(ouch)!  The George Washington High School Class of 1992, 20 year Reunion.  I think everyone had a good time.  It was great to see all the old faces from our collective past, and catch up on where life has taken everyone.
    I chatted with several people that I now have many things in common with, that in high school, I did not.  I reminisced with my old school Kenna Elementary kids, about old times and growing up together.   I chatted with good friends about seeing everyone.  I had a few drinks, a little food, and watched the slide show full of pictures from then to now.  It was nice to see how much everyone has grown, and how far we have all come.  It was nice to hear of accomplishments and families.  It was nice to hear that people actually read and like this blog! I am just kidding...but not really.
    When I began anticipating my reunion attendance, I wondered what to expect.  I mainly wanted to go to see my friends and people I grew up with.  I, as were we all, a little excited and a little nervous about seeing all of the people from high school.  I wondered if  "the popular crowd" would still act like "the popular crowd" 20 years later, or if they had evolved into caring, welcoming, human beings as grown ups.  I wondered if the "keg party" good old boys would be the same.  I wondered if all the success that our graduating class has generated went to their heads, or made them humble and thankful. I think we had a little bit of all of the above.

     One thing I did not have to think twice about was my friends and the people I grew up with since we were in the second grade.  Angie, Lesley, Shannon, Jeff, and Michael.  You guys were exactly the same! Good people.  Friendly people.  People that I grew up with. We shared chubby cheeks and bad perms, zits and tits, romances and bromances. From nursing management and pharmaceutical sales, to eye surgery,  and from local businesses to stay at home moms, we have become a diversified group.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing and talking to each and every one of you!  I enjoyed meeting all of the signifigant others as well, except for Mike, you cougar, you!  Jeff had an excellent point, that I am still left wondering about.  All of you Kenna Kids will enjoy this, why in elementary school, did they segregate lunch time? Do you remember the "cold-lunch" kids being forced to sit on one side of the cafeteria, and the "hot lunch" kids being forced to sit on the other side? Yeah, right.  I cannot figure it out either!  Maybe if someone has Ms. Wounaris on their friends list, she could shed some light! Thanks Jeff for the now ever present question.  Precisely how long has it been driving you nuts?

    I also had a ball catching up with my girls! Angie and Debbie I had a ball at lunch! I miss seeing you guys since I moved to Kentucky! It was also great seeing Randy, Missy, Wendy, Kristi, Laura, Tara, Jerry, Donn, Sherrie, Amy, Alison and Ken, Eric, Rob, and chatting with you all! Eric and Jeff, I absolutely loved your girlfriend and wife respectively! They were both dolls!  I know I missed some people, so do forgive me in advance!

    My husband's question was, having went to a different high school, who regarded us the "snobs", the rich kids, the uppity bunch, why in the world did we have to share lockers?  I suppose all around the Kanawha Valley of W Va, kids had their own lockers.  I guess this question came up when I introduced him to my locker partner, Missy. Another interesting question.  I am assuming that there weren't enough lockers for each their own.

    I want to thank my spouse, and all of the spouses and significant others that put up with us this weekend.  Thank you for humoring us!  Many of you did and or do not understand the pull for us to go to our reunion.  We went to high school in a very special place.  We shared a very special time in our lives. GWHS was a high school like no other.  It bred excellence.  Patriot Pride is special.  I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I think about how special it is to be a GWHS graduate.  Whether you were a popular kid, on the track and cross country teams, a softball kid, a tennis or soccer kid, an art kid, a band geek, a baseball or football player, on the volleyball team, or academic decathlon team member, we all had the pride.  We had an exceptional principal who cared about each and every one of us.  I know I was proud when Mr. Lohan always showed up to every band concert, competition, and football game.We had a teacher staff who cared about our success.  We had a special schedule that matured us and prepared us for college from the tenth grade forward, and for life.  GWHS was a special place for us.  We also witnessed the pointless murder of a classmate together, at our senior skip day celebration.  That is something that changes you.  We all went through the National Enquirer scandal together.  Especially the band kids. "Band Director Arrested for Bank Robbery at Lunchtime."  We also have all had the question at one time or another,"Did you go to school with Jennifer Garner?" Yes, but she was two years older.  So we have all been through some extraordinary events together, as well as a shared high school history.  We all have common memories, as well as our own.  I can ramble on about memories all day long, but I can tell you we had an exceptional school and staff.  My oldest went to Nitro High School, and she did not have the caliber of teachers that I had.  There was not a school pride or the camaraderie that we had at GWHS.  I mean seriously, we had one of the worst football teams around(sorry guys), but we all still showed up every Friday night, to cheer on our fellow classmates!  The players still held up there #1 fingers in pictures, and we were proud as heck of our boys.  We were proud to be from the Hill! One of cheerleader cheers was, "We are the Hill, and your not!" When we told someone where we went to school, you could stand back and watch their reaction.  It was THE high school to attend.  I am trying to explain why we all felt the pull to go to reunion, but I cannot explain.  If you were a part of it, then you understand.  If you weren't one of us, it is hard to explain.
    My husband was talking to someone and jokingly said, "I see you don't have a badge, so your not one of them?"  that pretty much sums it up.  As my hilarious father put it, there are two kinds of people. The wine and cheese crowd and the keg party crowd.  GWHS was the wine and cheese crowd versus the keg party crowd, that are most high schools. I found this too funny as well as true. My best friend from college, Julie, had her Woodrow Wilson 20 year High School Reunion the same night.  They rented a bar the first night. And had a live band with dancing at a country club the second night.  They actually danced!  We had a mini-sternwheeler ride the first night, and a cocktail party on the Charleston Tennis Club lawn and in the clubhouse the second night.  Okay, I give up! Daddy, your right!  We are the wine and cheese crowd.  I personally like both! I can put on my refined, sophisticated, lady panties when I need to, and party like a rockstar at the good old country boy get togethers too!
  In review, I think everybody had a great time.  I was most impressed with a few quiet shy people that grew up and came out of their shells.  Several former shy people, made everyone feel quite welcome! Me included! I chatted with quite a few people who I was not particularly close to in high school.  Everybody grows up and most of us lose the people "comfort zone."  Some people actually tried to step outside the box with me, but had a little difficulty.  Props to them for trying, I have faith that by 25 or 30 year reunion, you might master the art of conversation with everybody.  Then you had the same old people that hung out with the same old people.  I was a sometimes quiet, shy good girl in high school. (At least for those who did not know me well...hah!) Although I cannot to seem to ever remember myself shutting up for long.  I have grown into a people person, and can make conversation with anybody, about anything.  Even if I do not care for them.  Some people I am sad to say, as reported by several friends, have never come out of their shell.  Some still cannot step outside their "clique-y" high school comfort zones, or just are elitist enough to just not want to, or care.  I guess some things or people never change. Didn't bother me, I had a ball!  I did not get a chance to say hello to and chat with everybody that was in attendance.  If I missed you, I apologize! Hope everybody has recuperated by now! We are not as young as we once were!

    In closing I would like to thank those that worked so hard on our 20 year reunion. Kristy, Wendy, Debbie, Lee, Maryclaire, silent donors for the open bar, anyone on the reunion committee that I may have missed, Thank you! You gave up hours away from your families to plan our reunion, and we all appreciate you and all your hard work!
  

Freaking Fabulous

Today I am going to write about love.  Unconditional love.  My oldest daughter, who is 20, in the last two weeks has had her car broken into, and her purse stolen.  The culprits got her license, registration, social security card, debit card, and all the cash and gift cards that she had just received for her birthday, out of her purse.  Needless to say, she is having a crappy adulthood so far.  The oldest daughter had promised the youngest daughter, who is almost 4, to take her to see a movie.  Big Sissy had to cancel her little sissy date because of the theft, and how her days off happened to fall that particular week.  She had to go to the DMV twice, to get all of her document and ID's reissued, because without ID, it is like an act of congress to get anything that has been stolen, reissued at the DMV.

     She, exactly one week later, just picked up her little sister for their date.  The little sister was so excited!  She was excited that her big sister thought she was special enough, to drive to Kentucky from West Virginia, just to take her on their "sissy date."  This is a shining example of having family at the top of your priority list.  I am so proud of my oldest daughter.  Proud that the thefts did not knock her down, that she kept her chin up and kept on going.  Proud that she is such a loving, caring human being.  She is not my biological daughter, but she is mine.   She is a daughter of my heart.  She was the first one I got the privilege of practicing parenting skills on, she was the trial and error child(just ask her about the birds and the bees conversation), and she and I have had our ups and downs like any parent and child.  I feel like I had some small part in the beautiful woman she is becoming.  She has always had the biggest heart in the world.  She used to say when she was 10 or 11, that she and her cousin were going to adopt all of the starving kids in the world.  She has a heart big enough to do just that, when she gets a little older.  My heart bursts with pride and joy that she is such a loving young lady, because she has seen more than her share of adversity and heartbreak in her young life.  I am so very proud of her I could just burst!
     I just want her to know how very much I love her, and how very proud of her I am.  I am so very proud of her for making her little sister and our family a priority.  When most kids her age are in college, partying, etc., she is a full time manager of a local retail store, makes her family a priority, and still has time for the other people and passions in her life.  She makes time to drive an hour and a half to take her baby sister to a movie and lunch, what 20 year old does that? Seriously? She is a published writer, and an excellent artist.  She is witty, kind, loving, sweet, compassionate, dedicated, devoted to those she loves, intelligent, and hilarious.  She makes me the proudest "Ginger" ever. (She has always called me by my name, because when she was small, 'mom' had a bad connotation associated with it.)  I cannot express all of my love for this wonderful child on paper.  She always remembers birthdays, mother's day, writes me very eloquent letters expressing her love and gratitude for me, even from a young age, I mean come on, what mother wouldn't die for those?  They are some of my most cherished possessions!  I love her so very much!

     I am so very blessed to have this child in my life.  The picture above is when she was 11. The second one is an example of the unconditional love she has for her little sister. Taking the time to explain something to her. She will always be my beautiful little girl, not the grown up others see.  My partner in crime tickling her daddy, putting sticky creepy crawly things above the bed with her brother, to scare her father and I in the middle of the night, trying on her first formal dress, her first marching band performance and every one thereafter, her church plays, her school plays, trick or treating when she was a teenager, her first love and heartbreak, her first slumber party on the boat, and so many other cherished memories!  I am so glad that she loves her little sister so very much!  My littlest one is lucky to have such an awesome big sister!  I just wanted to share with you, and her, how very special she is to me, her father, her baby sister, and all those who know and love her!  It is always nice to hear how awesome someone thinks you are, especially when your hit with so much unpleasantness all at once.  So, I am taking this opportunity to tell the world how freaking fabulous my 20 year old is, and how grateful I am that she is mine!  I love you to pieces Alexandra Kyle Harris! And if you feel like a little zombie reading, here is the link to her current blog...The Undead Journals.

Thank You Nelson Henson and the 8th ESB

Today is a happy day. I figured out how to connect the dvd player and tv all on my own! Go me!  I am so tickled with myself!  I am smarter than the electronics! So I go to post about my achievement on facebook, in a self-depreciating kind of way, when I start scrolling, I see them.  Those posts that drive me bonkers!  You all know the ones I am talking.  The ones you normally scroll through, and turn a blind eye to.  The save this dog, and save these cats if you do not go to the pound and rescue them.  The abortion ones that try to persuade you to one side or the other's cause.  Today I wanted to read about people's lives, what is going on with my friends, share my major electronic accomplishment, and bam!  There is this dog dominating my FB feed.  Lennox.  Who the fric is Lennox?  Why do I care?  I mean come on, my husband's sister's new husband is deployed, and I see a thousand posts about a dog I don't know?  Come on, In my book soldiers come first, and I do not see anything regarding them dominating my feed everyday.  It's just like religion, I do not want to be visually persuaded to join your side of the argument, or your cause.  My beliefs are my beliefs, and I do NOT feel the need to persuade the world to jump on board with me, or jump on over to the side that is persuading!  I have no need or desire to see an abortion post with a baby or more graphic post trying to persuade me to see things their way, whether I already do or not.  It bothers me greatly.  I do not want to start my morning with almost dead martyr dogs and dead babies!  So in my personal protest of all things I would rather not see on Facebook, I am posting the kind of thing I would like to see more of!  Sacrifice.  For you, for me, for their country, and at a great personal cost.  Thank you to the families supporting these brave soldiers! Thank you gentleman of the 8th ESB currently in Afghanistan.  Thank you for your service and your sacrifice!

Bible Belt Church Zombies

A couple of days ago, we went to the community pool in our new town for the first time.  After we slathered ourselves with sunscreen, we got into the pool.  We were not in the pool five minutes, when we were approached by a man and his five and a half year old daughter.  He took the older parent approach.  "Looks like I'm not the only parent around who waited until I was older to have kids!"  So it began.  Pulled chatty me right into conversation.  I was in pool mommy mode.  Correction, WV pool mommy mode, back home where things are normal.  I disclosed we had relocated recently, and BAM! He went into zombie church mode. Before the third sentence came out of his mouth, he asked if we had found a church yet. Fell for it hook , line, and sinker. "no, we haven't," I replied. So he launches into his spiel, about how they were faithful church members to a southern baptist church with a Sunday attendance of 1200, until they moved, and now they go to a very conservative baptist church(insert church advertisement here)with a Sunday attendance of wait for it...400 members!!!  I don't know about you, but I would rather know my pastor personally!
   The next thing that happened was hilarious.  His precocious five year old asks,"What's that thing in your tongue?" I answered, "a tongue ring, it's a ring in my tongue!"  She then showed me her earrings. She said," these are my earrings, they are rings in my ears!" So sweet! The church zombie immediately drifted to the other end of the pool with his "conservative"self and his five year old.  My husband was trying his hardest not to burst out in a fit of laughter.
   A couple of things strike me.  The man did not ask us our names.  He felt free to ask all about our religion, but did not want to know our names.  Doesn't that strike you as a little zombie-ish?  Must find new church members.  Grunt. Smile.  Next they will be eating out eyes out. Bah ha ha ha!  Also recently on the rise spotting of Zombie Response Unit Vehicles in Kentucky.  And Zombie hunting permits.  THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!  Just like the overzealous church solicitors, they are all out to get you!
   After his shock wore off, the zombie church solicitor once again picked up his mission, and as we floated around the pool, could be heard going into his sales pitch at least three more times, while ignoring his child!  Who, by the way, had just learned to swim.  I don't know about you, but I am wherever my kid is in the pool, as she has not learned to swim completely yet.  He was with his child at the beginning, but as he got preoccupied in his spiel, completely lost track of his child.  I NEVER lose track of my child! My child comes first, period.  So again I ask you, seem a little odd? To me, and maybe it's just me, call me crazy if you want, but it seems a little mindless, church-zombie-ish to me.  That is all.

The 20 year High School Reunion

My twenty year high school reunion is upon me.  At first, I was really excited to go and see everybody that I went to school with.  Then a couple of months passed, I have moved out of state, and find myself questioning whether I want to go or not.  I do want to go, but then again, I see all the people I love and care about from high school on a regular basis anyway.  I asked several friends if they are going to go.  One of my guy friends said he was going to see who got bald and who turned out to be losers.  One of my girl friends commented that she was not excited about going, she had RSVP'D and sent her money in, but was not sure she was going to show up.  So the age old question looms; Why do we want to go to Reunion?
     I hung out with a little bit of everybody in high school.  I was not an "in-crowd" kid, nor had any desire to be.  I marched to the beat of my own flute(literally).  I hung out with some jocks, band geeks(I was one), kids that weren't involved in anything, exchange students, kids that were older, and kids that were younger than me.  Some of my best friends were from other schools. I love people.  Even at that young age, I was a lover of all people and their differences.  We all get wrapped up in high school clique politics, and as you grow up, all of that no longer matters.  It didn't really matter that much to me then either.
     I was involved in a youth group, the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, which taught me lessons that shaped and forever changed my life.  This was the organization which taught me to appreciate differences. I have lifelong friends from this organization. The girls from this youth group  are some of my best friends to this day.  I was fundraising for and hanging out with crippled children from the Shriner's Crippled Children's hospital from the time I was thirteen.  I was also visiting the sick and distressed in Masonic homes, and nursing homes from thirteen.  I was learning  to give to and do for others while most people my age were deciding what boy was cute, who they liked, and who their friends were.  What pool they were going to hang out at this summer. I went through these same things, but I was focusing more on learning and growing in this early, new found sense of purpose.  Or as I would learn later, social responsibility.  I was a late bloomer.  I did not drink, smoke, or have sex in high school.  While lots of people were partying and hooking up, I was still enjoying slumber parties with my girls from the IORG.  I was going to District Rainbow meetings and serving in different offices, up to and including District President, and also doing the same thing on the state level of the organization.  It was a family thing for me.  My grandparents and parents were both involved in the sponsoring parent organizations, The Order of the Eastern Star and the Masonic Lodge.  It was family time, and time with friends.  When I became too old to remain active in the organization, I became an adult advisor, following in my mother's footsteps. 
     I had a IORG reunion at the state wide meeting last week.  I wrote my mother's memorial service, and had one of my girls read it.  It was a very emotional twenty four hours, as you can imagine.  My mother meant so very much to so many girls in this statewide organization, her memorial service, as you can imagine, left not a dry eye in the room.  Mom's girls went to lunch after her service.  We laughed and cried and remembered her.  I had the best time.  The looming high school reunion pales in comparison.
     My true friends were all at my mother's wake.  There were five of my dearest friends there from high school.  These are the people I love dearly.  I will never forget the fact that they were there for me.  There were many beautiful comments I received on Facebook from many people I had not heard from in a while.
   Which brings me back to my original point.  High School Reunion.  To go, or not to go...that is the question.  We live in the age of Facebook.  One can exercise their voyeuristic or stalker tendencies online these days, why pay money to go and see people that you mostly do not care about?  Is it to take us back so we can relive past relationships and shared experiences and feel young again?  Is it so that we can see how far we have come?  Is it because like my male friend said, to selfishly see who got fat, bald, drunk, and haven't amounted to anything?  Some of my friends are nervous about going, because going back and being around this group of people brings up mixed feelings straight out of high school.  I think we feel the pull to attend because we have a shared history.  Shared memories, shared events, shared dreams for the future, shared loss, shared everything from our teenage years.  For some that is a good thing, for some that is a bad thing.  Some people never want to relive high school, while some dream of reliving their "glory days".  Some just want to see how people are doing, and where life has taken them. Everybody has good and bad high school memories. Me included.  Not everyone has a story about being the most hated individual in high school(for a month at least) for ratting on and almost getting a starting football player suspended for setting her pants on fire in History Lecture one day.  Not everyone has a guy come up to them in a bar ten to twelve years later, and confess he always wanted to tell them he had nothing to do with the pants burning incident, because he always liked them, and felt bad about. Not everyone has a story about getting her flag corps uniform skirt stuck on her flag for the first third of the song, right in front of the boy she had a crush on.  Not everyone has a story about good friends from high school, becoming lifelong best friends.  Not everyone has found out about a secret unrequited love from high school that has evolved into a great friendship.  These are my memories.  Everyone has their own set of memories from high school.
     I want to go to Reunion to see my friends.  The ones that are still in my life that I love, as well as friends I had in high school, that I no longer have any contact with.  I want to go to see the kids that I spent eleven of my formative years with.  Reunion is a time to revisit our shared history.  Reunion for me, will be a time to laugh, smile, and make new memories with my best friends, reliving old memories, as well as seeing people I grew up with.  After all, we've made it twenty years, right? We will never have this chance again, so if your undecided, just do it! Just go!  You can always leave, your an adult now you know?

Observations From My First Kentucky Derby

1. Hats are optional.  Not! There will always be hats, and the glorious hat contest! The gaudier or bigger the better! And we thought it was men who were obsessed with size!
2. There will be a traditional southern specialty know as Burgoo served.  In spicy and regular.  Burgoo? What the heck is Burgoo you ask? It is a southern delicacy akin to vegetable soup, with lima beans, some form of meat, and vegetables. (I did not ask about the meat! Husband said it was gross!)
3. Even in dry counties, alcohol is served at derby parties.  The house liquor is whiskey, served in traditional mint juleps, and beer.  So I did try a mint julep.  Disgusting.  I am not a whiskey girl.  I also do not understand the point of putting a hairy leafy plant stem into the whiskey.  Eeeww gross. Can't there be microscoopic bugs on that stem? Shiver.
4. Why do Kentuckians not stand at the playing of the national anthem?  But stand at the Kentucky State song?  I am told that Kentucky is a commonwealth akin to Texas and Virginia, and even though they are recognized by the federal government as a state, they still regard themselves as separate from the union.  This practice is also upheld at all UK games.
5. Door prizes are given away.  We won an adorable little gardening bag organizer, filled with supplies! My favorite was the plant watering globe!
6. Baskets are raffled off.  I was amazed at the huge pasta basket that was raffled off for the winning bid of $65.  All of which could have been purchased at your local walmart for $21.95.  But it was to benefit the historic mansion we "partied" in, so it was for a good cause.
7. Did I mention hats? There will always be a lady with a horse(s) on her hat.  The horse hat will always win a prize!
8. The pre-race festivities are fun.  The post race collecting is fun.  The race lasting less than 3 minutes, definitely anti-climactic. 
9. The auctioneer needed to take a lecture in auctioneering skills.(Having served as an auctioneer several times in the past, I can officially say he sucked!)
10. If you are so attached to the big screen, high definition television you watched the derby on, we can get you in touch with the furniture company who provided them for our use today, and you get a discount!
11. If you are attached to the big screen, high definition television you watched the derby on, we can get you in touch with the furniture company who provided them for our use today, and you get a discount! Okay...
12. Scrumptious food!  My favorite were the chocolate covered strawberries.  They very kind we were supposed to have at my wedding many years ago, but the caterer skimped and brought a bowl of strawberries and a bowl of chocolate goop to dip them in.  Sensing a little animosity?Yes, I am still pissed about that 8 years later!

Kentucky Observations Part 3

1. Driving is crazy in Kentucky.  Parking lots, stop signs, traffic signals, right of ways, and one way roads are so confusing and weird.
2. Kentucky Drivers are crazy.  Of course with Ohio drivers mixed in, it's REALLY crazy!
3. There is such a thing as a Zombie Hunting Permit in Kentucky.  It was on the car beside me at a convenience store, I swear!
4. The movie theatre has missing chairs and caution tape.  No really.
5. We have friendly neighbors. REALLY friendly neighbors.
6. Apparently no mexican restaurant can obtain a liquor license.  Whether it is the required seating occupancy of 100 or the plumbing, you decide...Oh, and I almost forgot, I fell in love with the waiters prison tats, especially the one of the machine gun with initials!
7. Your friendly neighborhood cable man doubles as your Harley Davidson repair technician.
8. For birthdays and anniversaries, Kentuckians buy 2 foot high individual letters, to post in their yard, spelling out happy birthday or anniversary.
9. Permed mullets are tres chic.  We did move to Flatwoods...the home of none other than the world famous Billy Ray Cyrus, King of the original mullet.
10. Big hair is everywhere!
11. UK gear or get out!
12. No one goes anywhere without makeup. I mean NOWHERE!!! Going out of the house is a social event!
13. Everyone has those stick people van/SUV family stickers, and the kids cheer or sports sticker with their name.  Proud parents.  Kinda makes it easy on pedophiles and kidnappers though, donthcha think?
14. There is a weekly neighborhood contest to see who can mow their grass the shortest.  With prizes given for frequency of mowing! Hah!
15. I am actually beginning to really like Kentucky! Now to cultivate a certain twang to my speech patterns...
16. Vitamin-C boosted rainbow colored cauliflower(orange, purple, and green!)
17. Kentucky Schools apparently have something called super donuts...packed with vitamins!