Reunion Night

On Friday night, I doubled up the unofficial reunions by having dinner with 5 friends from UCSC and then going to a party with 30-40 people from University High School in Irvine. Dinner was up in Brentwood, and even though I hadn't seen a few of them in several years, it's always interesting to get back together with people, reminisce on funny stories, share gossip about mutual acquaintences and realize, again, exactly why you were or weren't friends with those people. I don't mean that in a bad way at all, but it's interesting how you can forget about a certain person's quirks or sense of humor, and then when you see them against, you react the same way you always did. At least, that's how I find it is with friends from college.

For high school friends, it's a bit different; because really, we've ALL changed since high school. I have a core group of about 5 people who I regularly keep in touch with and make a point to visit, even if that means flying for a weekend trip to see them. There are several others who I was happy to see, but most interesting was the fact that the cliques we belonged to and the activities we did in high school don't really matter any more. Everyone was friendly, and at least at this particular party, everyone knew each other's names, even if you wouldn't have considered them a friend in high school.

It was intriguing to find out what people are doing: Nonprofit work, social work, corporate sellout (that was me :), rocket scientist, advertising sales, pro baseball player (that's Garrett Atkins who plays for the Colorado Rockies if you are curious). I ran into one girl who I found out lives in my same neighborhood in San Francisco. Yes, another UNI grad from 1997 who lives in the Presidio - how random is THAT? She also has blonde hair and blue eyes, so she'll fit into the group with my roomies when we go out in the Marina - LOL.

Having driven from Brentwood to Balboa Island in Newport Beach, I wasn't drinking, and I didn't even get to the party until 12:30am, but stayed until 3 am when I gave rides home to a few of my inebriated classmates. Finally, a party with these folks when we are all legal! I was teased about my 6th grade "boyfriend" who was also there, and old stories from high school, junior high, and elementary school were dug up and shared. Overall, I really had a good time, and I am looking forward to our 10 year anniversary in 2007. It will be great to reconnect with friends, and entertaining to laugh at the people who brought their spouses on display, or generally are still just being shallow "OC" style.