Reunion Recap

Not often can you slip back into friendship that has not been actively cultivated for over twenty years, but that definitely happened at my Friday night get together. I have seen Jay on and off over the years, and recently reconnected with Rick and Todd in the blogsphere, but the last time that I saw George was at his parent’s house, ten years ago. The funny thing about getting together was, once we started relaxing, our personalities had not changed all that much. Maybe a bit more mello, but, I contribute that to the affects of fatherhood. I missed Alan, and wished it would have worked out for him to be able to make it.

Watching our senior American English Literature project helped project us back as well. When I was a senior, I thought I looked much older, but man, I was definitely a kid. The movie helped to frame memories of being seventeen with a whole lot of life ahead. It also made me miss another friend that we have not been able to reconnect with since the ten year Airport HS reunion, Steve.

The next day, Todd, Jay and I discovered that Columbia, SC does not do brunch. So, we settled on the next best thing: IHOP. One person should not be allowed to eat an omelet and three pancakes. Attempting to walk some of it off, we toured the USC campus and then headed out to West Columbia to see if the old Comic Book shop was still pulling our subscriptions.

Saying goodbye to Todd, who had to go and DJ a wedding, Jay and I headed out to see Poseidon. We had nearly an hour to kill before the 3:00pm showing, but I heard a familiar voice as we were purchasing tickets. During college, I had worked at the Bush River Mall Cinemas, and some of the employees that I knew there now worked at the Dutch Square cinemas (Dutch Square’s manager, Missy, was hired at Bush River the same day I was, so we go way back), The familiar voice belonged to Winn. At age 68, he is doing what I hope to be doing in retirement – working back at a theater. As we talked, I remembered that he was also friends with Dave, the best man at my wedding who, you guessed it, I have lost touch with. I found out that Dave was working out of Greenwood South Carolina, and with a quick trip to White Pages.com, I have secured an address. I am sending out a brief snail mail to him today to confirm his identity.

So, for a reunion weekend, it really turned out great.