The Long-Awaited Class Reunion Blog (Part 1)

Class idiot please raise your hand! (photo stolen from Stacee)

I normally don't blog on Sunday's because of my normal Sunday obligation; I am usually getting ready for the podcast. This is a special occasion because of last night's class reunion. I am going to preface this blog by saying that Splenda just left to go to IKEA with one of her friends that I have known for six or seven years and when Cha Cha asked me who Splenda was going with I could not remember Emily's name. I am not hung-over because I think I only had seven margaritas in about a seven-hour span so it's not extra brain cells that I could not afford to lose lost. I was tired because of spending the last four days in the heat of the sweat-box (garage sale prep and sale) and I think I danced like a maniac, manic out on the floor most of the night so I worked off the alcohol I did have. I also didn't eat much. I had some cheesy tater tots and a few onion thingys and I guess that's it now that I think of it. Now that I think I have made as many excuses that I can think of right now...on with the blog.

I don't know why I felt I had to preface the blog because I don't think I will offend anyone because it was a great evening all around. Kim, Terri, Judi, Jana, Kathy and Christie... did most of the heavy lifting to put this event together and I don't think Donald Trump could have hired a team that could have done a better job (YOU'RE NOT FIRED!). As a lot of people mentioned last night some of the thanks has to go to Jesse Eisenberg Mark Zuckerberg for inventing The Facebook. The turn-out was fantastic. I don't know the numbers but I bet there were well over 60 former students at the reunion. I will guess 67 with +/- 5.

It's kind of funny because when Cha Cha and I arrived (incidentally, Kim and Tracy like "Sugar Momma" better than "Cha Cha" and I may call her that on this week's podcast just for snicks and to get a rise out of her) we kinda felt like celebrities because of the podcast and the blog. It's always funny for me to hear people call her Cha Cha (she loves it). This blog is gonna take forever to write today because all of the photos are starting to pour onto The Facebook and I keep stopping to see all of the pictures and comments. My buddy Stacee just posted one of me that makes me very sad (it's the photo up at the top there). Remember the blog from a couple of days ago when I wrote about how I looked like Johnny Depp in high school and I included a photo of my name tag? The name tag was great (thank you Christie) but with all of my dirty dancing I lost the name tag. Someone is out there impersonating me impersonating Johnny Depp now.

It's funny how thirty years changes everything - except for Phil Van Overmeiren. I still cannot figure out why he was offended when I told him he hasn't changed a bit. I would have understood if he were ugly but Phil's a great-looking guy. Diane Mooney hasn't changed either. Outside of those two  - everybody else has changed appearance-wise in some way. That is not to say that we weren't all recognizable but we have changed. My awards for least-changed Male and Female go to Phil and Diane. Congratulations you two for winning my first ever Ponce de Leon Award! I don't think I will be able to win that award from this reunion until the next one - let alone after 30 years. Brian Didier and Sam Allen didn't change much either and they are still both among my favorite people in the world.

I didn't get to see everyone at the reunion and, in hindsight, I wish I would have spent more time trying to talk to everyone. MADYM and MisterYM and our friends Jen, Sam and Keith were at Ballydoyle's too and if you know anything about me you know that I want to be all things to all people all the time so I tried to flutter around like a social disease butterfly. I feel like Steve Rubell sometimes. There are some people that I was friends with in high school that I tried to talk to that didn't seem too welcome to the idea - no Welcome Matt was placed for me so I fluttered-on. I imagine I did something back in my yute that was less than stellar and there is a thirty-year grudge or resentment or hatred or something. Que Sera Sera! I bet there were a lot of people that I would have liked to talk to that I didn't even know were there. A few people that I know weren't there that I missed not seeing were Geoff Gillette, Max Hill and Scott Simpson. I was also disappointed that Shawn Fessenden had a last-minute work emergency that made it so he couldn't make it. I was really thrilled, however, that Stacee Cummings and Sarah Behnke came because I know they, like me, had pondered the idea of not going. Not only were they both there but they both were at my very exclusive table which included: Stacee, Sarah, Diane (Mooney), Angie Dickinson Mickle and Mary Capet Miller, Stacee's soon-to-be Mr. Stacee (Craig) and Mary's husband (Dave) and Cha Cha, of course. Craig and Dave both seem like great guys so we were pretty-much the cool-kids table I think (never thought I'd be at that table). Tracy Perkins Clark came in and out at the table - she's a more effective social butterfly than me I think.

You didn't know I graduated with Sofia Loren and Jayne Mansfield did you?

I haven't had a chance to read the program we got last night but I did notice that "Sarah Benke" lost an "h" over the years (she used to be Behnke) and I better get my license changed to "Hesler" pretty quickly because more people call me that than call me Helser.

I am sure I did not do the fun and hard work and memories justice in this blog but maybe that's because of the White Castles on the way home. White Castle is not as good when you don't eat meat or you're not really drunk. Their fish sandwiches don't even have tartar sauce on them- bleech! The bottled water is good though. Cha Cha and I are probably going to wait and do the podcast until tonight because The Prairie State Film Festival is today and we want to watch I Hunt Ghosts at 4:40PM at the festival at The House Cafe. Come on out and watch it with us. There are plenty of movies at the festival. That'll give us one more thing to pod about and also give me a little more preparedness for the Tinker Swiss Haunted Tour and Investigation on August 6th (666th) with Stacee, Craig, Craig's brother and sister-in-law and Splenda (only eight total and we are six - gonna be fun)... Cha Cha isn't going because she likes her sleep too much. Our next couple of Dirty Laundry podcasts are gonna be smokin' hot with film festivals, class reunions, ghost hunting, parades...!

I will end this blog with what my friend Mark Kruger, who I still want to be on the podcast even more so after talking to him last night, just posted on his The Facebook page - "As you get older, you find out the inside is what really matters most." Nicely said Mark. TTTT...MITM (off to nap probably).