Rewinding Part 3 Lessons from the Road

About food
I like Rolos better when they are soft. And it's true. I reach a point in any kind of stressful event - be it mild or intense - when I flat out need chocolate.

It is a good thing that we don't live near a Big Boy restaurant. I would either get sick of their food or be keeling over from tartar sauce poisoning.

About family
The Actor/Ninja likes Hank Williams music and my family's ears don't bleed when I tuned the radio to bluegrass as we drove through some of mountainous Tennessee. It just seemed appropriate.

Three years is too long between visits with family, especially when we can make the drive in seven hours.

The Big R still doesn't appreciate my sense of humor. See, she has this annoying habit of asking us "Are you still working?" Intellectually, I know she's just making conversation. Let's face it, beyond work and the kids, she really doesn't want to delve too deeply into my life and interests and she knows it. Still, this question of are you still working drives me up the fucking wall. What? Did I win the lottery and no one told me? Did my real family - the insanely wealthy ones - finally step forward to claim me? Or worse - is she implying that I'm some kind of lay-about who only works when desperate? I've got news for her - I am always desperate. Hence the job.

Anyway, I smarted off to her when she asked that question. To be more accurate, I used my nephew to smart off to The Big R. I'd predicted to him before her arrival, that within two minutes of seeing him, she'd ask that very question of him, too. Poor kid. As it turns out, I was correct. I was the very model of maturity. I pointed it out via gestures and fall on the floor laughter behind her back. Ah, just like old times. Except, she turned around. "Pick yourself up off the floor, you ninny. What is your problem?" she asked me.

I wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes and stammered just like the fifteen year old I used to be "I-I-I told him you'd ask that idiotic question. What do you think? He's all the sudden discovered the money tree? Of course he's still working!"

Another thing I learned? The Big R is still quite capable of delivering a withering stare.

And she wasn't kidding about saving humiliating photos of me for when I was "older." I am apparently officially "older" in The Big R's estimation. Must be the gray hair. Which is striking, but not in an Oh my heavens! Did you mean to do that to your head? kind of way like some of the hairdos in those photographs. And have mercy! to the clothing. I will never be accused of being well-dressed. (Click that link at your own risk.)

MathMan is pretty dang cool. He was patient as I flitted about the class reunion. He took a lot of photos both then and when we were with my family and I was glad that even though he's only met some of my former classmates and their spouses once or never, he deftly struck up
conversations with everyone.

The Royal Pains have no sense of humor about me jumping off this bridge when I was sixteen years old. They're just a couple of humorless, self-interested fertilized eggs about it, in my opinion. It's not me they care about. It's just the fact that had that jump not turned out fine, they might not exist. They don't fool me.


About place
Time is a wonderful change agent, at least when it comes to attitude. As much as I hated it sometimes when I was younger, I was really lucky to grow up in a place not unlike Mayberry.

For the same reasons it used to drive me a little crazy, I can now appreciate Rising Sun as the place where I spent my childhood. There's something really nice about the familiarity of the people and the place.





Our library was a Carnegie Library.
*Note: We did not have crap piled in front of our house. And the garage was a garage, not a room. We used the garage as a place to pile our junk.

You're still wondering about the class reunion, aren't you? Well, what can I say? It was so much fun - even better than I expected. It was loud and hot and thank goodness, there was none of that awkward award stuff or ice-breaker games. We sipped our drinks, swapped stories of our then and now and just enjoyed the moments together. They went by too quickly.

I learned some new things there, too.....

(1) Other people remember things about you that you may have forgotten. For example:
I was an insensitive clod who walked up to two guys in the school hallway and invited only one of them to participate in a "sexy legs" contest that must have been part of some fund-raiser or something that the cheerleaders were doing. (Yes, I was a cheerleader.) Anyway, the young man who wasn't invited reminded me of my social faux pas. I didn't remember it, but both guys did and with obvious clarity. I apologized. And I assure you, I would never make that same mistake today. If you're reading this, Steve B., I am sorry. Next time there is a sexy legs contest, I promise, you're the first man I'll ask to show us what he's got.

(2) Funny people stay funny. The same people who made me laugh in school made me laugh at the party. A lot. At least this time it didn't result in detention.

(3) Some people don't want to be blogged about. So I won't blog about them here and repeat their name, which is so nice you have to say it twice. I will also stop telling stories involving the zoo and songs by The Who. I also won't mention how they gigged me good on something stupid I said during our Senior Trip (again, something I'd forgotten), nor will I make a peep about sweat pants or tans. And I especially won't mention the John Phillips Sousa Award because that might make another person fret.

(4) I suck at staying in touch with people. I let the minutia of my life crowd out friendships and contacts I value. For those of you who came from large schools or big places, it's hard to explain, but there's something uniquely satisfying about having a shared history with people. At least for me. And yes, I count my siblings and parents in that equation, as well.

(5) I squeeze butts. I do, it's true. And I wasn't even drinking when I did it. And you should have seen the looks on my sister's and brother's-in-law faces when I did it. It's like they never had their butts squeezed or something. And I won't tell you about the other butts I squeezed. A woman has to have some mystery about her......

(6) Most of us end up somewhere in the middle. There were not wildly successful millionaires and no one who showed up was completely down and out.

(7) Every visit with my parents reminds me that I must take better care of myself physically and emotionally. They seem older than they are. Maybe it's just me, but I hate to see my mom hobbling and so keenly aware of her tummy issues all the time. I can't help but think that some of what ails them could have been avoided. And the fact that they don't get out much or have friends really concerns me. (See item 4. It's important to have friends, I'm convinced.)

(8) Every class needs a Tammy. She always was organized and spirited and full of life. Tammy makes our reunions happen. For that, I am grateful. (See the video below.)

(9) I went to school with great people. Even the Republicans.

(10) I have selective memory. See items in purple.

You can see a full set of pictures here.

And because it's me and I'm a dork who likes to overshare, just ask my pal the guy with the name so nice, you have to say it twice, I made a video of the event. Some stills, some video. Enjoy.....



About that song - it's the Washington and Lee Swing. It was our high school fight song.