September 20, 2009

High School Reunions are as Awkward as High School Was

I realize that high school reunions are supposed to be about reminiscing about the good ol' days, but the reality is that if your class was awkward in high school, the reunion isn't likely to be any different. And I'll say it; I don't look at high school as the good ol' days since most of it sucked buckets for me. So why in the hell would I want to go back?

My class seemed very clicky. It was a small class and we all knew and talked to each other, but we didn't all hang out together in our free time. The reality is that if we'd gone to a huge public school, most of our paths wouldn't have crossed including most of the friends we actually did hang out with. But here's the thing we have all hopefully changed since then and that includes people we used to hang out with. We've all moved on. Reunions are about going back. Back to a place I didn't much care for when I was there but made tolerable by the friends I did have.

A few years ago, I went to my 10 year reunion. I had avoided going back in previous years but decided to go since a friend I'm still in contact with was going. And another friend was going to show and I hoped a few more of my friends would show. Also I really had a morbid curiosity about what some of my former classmates were up to, though I myself was not where I had hoped to be in my career 10 years out from high school. I had recently acquired a stable job that I wasn't completely ashamed of. But I was afraid to go because I figured everyone else would have these crazy awesome careers to brag about.

The reality was that most of the people that showed up had between 1 and 3 kids already. I was shocked because I wasn't even close to thinking I was mature enough to have a kid. (still not sure that I am) Much more 2 or 3 toddlers that were running around. This was a bit awkward because I didn't know what to say to them anymore. I couldn't even relate to wanting kids yet. On the bright side, I didn't see the fabulous high dollar careers that I expected. We were all pretty much paying our dues as far as I could tell. Most of us were well on our way to middle class life, meeting the hopes and dreams of our parents.

Only about half of us, if that many showed up. People that ignored each other in high school continued to ignore each other. I will admit I didn't make an effort to talk to everyone either. I just didn't see the point. Plus hearing about the divorces made the following sympathy awkward.
Now we're all ignoring each other on Facebook. Go figure. We really have nothing to say to each other except to the click or group of friends we belonged to then. It was such an awkward experience, that it's awkward to write about and make it sound amusing. It just sounds sad I think.

September 13, 2009

Wedding Jitters

If I knew then what I know now, I would have had a small wedding in the back yard and only invited family and a very few close friends. I was excited to get married but the fanfare gave me a bit of nervous anxiety that I would have been happy to do without. Though I'm still proud of the cake that cost about $10 and fed everyone that came that wanted cake and still had leftovers.

So onto my jitters. I had a bunch of stuff stored in my dad's attic that I needed to move out and into our new apartment. The week before, I was up there getting boxes and loading up my stuff to move. You know how most attics aren't finished unless you finish them? Well my stuff was on parts that didn't have any kind of flooring down on the studs. So I was standing on the studs, beams or whatever they are called, lifting a box when I lost my balance and stepped in between the studs and my foot when right through the ceiling. Luckily I came to a stop on top of the fridge.

OH CRAP!!! I just ruined my dad's ceiling!!! and I was getting married in a few days. I was immediately terrified that he was going to be furious and disown me or refuse to walk me down the aisle. Or charge me to fix it and I didn't have a job yet!!! Well that was a little dramatic, but I was really upset that I was in the attic standing on his fridge. I called my soon to be husband and forgot to tell him that there was a fridge under me. So imagine what he pictured, me falling 10 feet to the floor with legs and arms mangled in directions they aren't supposed to go! If he were a woman he would have imagined a wedding with me being wheeled down the aisle in a body cast.

On the bright side, my dad was glad that the fridge was there, and it was something he knew how to fix and so it didn't even come close to breaking the bank. So in the end it wasn't so bad. We all survived. But it didn't relieve any of my other jitters. How do you tell a new bride and her mother that less is more. Most people will tell you that my wedding was more less than more. But I fought for less and hind-sight being 20/20, would have preferred much less than I even fought for. That would have lessened the jitters greatly.

Do any of you have any great wedding jitters stories? The funnier the better!