I wasn’t going to take my camera at all, and as it happened, I should’ve left it in the hotel room. But I was asked to take some photos, and I thought, “Well, sure. I can do that.” Yet in the end I yammered too much, snap too few photos, and the ones I captured weren’t all that spectacular. Photography fail!
Still, the reunion was great. Here’s the Assistant Head of School for Advancement telling us not to post unflattering, unbecoming photos on social media throughout the night because everything on the internet sticks.
I started around the room with good intentions. “Hey, good to see you! Get together for a photo!”
Here’s proof:
Some people saw the lens and responded appropriately:
When the room got dark, I flipped on the flash (which I hate to use). There were smiles all around:
But then I gave up. I wanted to talk and socialize and see where these ladies have been for the last twenty years. The room was full and loud. The husbands who knew each other huddled in safe, secure circles until there’d been enough alcohol for no one to care. Chuck was grateful to have Jerry (Kathryn’s husband, the only other familiar face at the reunion).
There are only a couple of photos of me from the night. One is a photo that Chuck took of me with Jenny. She and I both started GPS in the tenth grade, though I recall her already knowing a few people at the school and presuming those relationships helped her acclimate. I was so thrilled to see her again.
The other photo of me is an unfortunate one. It was arranged that we’d have a class photo taken outside the event space, a lovely idea on a beautiful night. However, I was chatting, or trying to find a spot, or something, and I wound up in the back of the photo with other girls who were doing the same thing. We couldn’t see or hear anything, so we couldn’t follow the directions from the photographer to stand up straight, look forward, and smile.
So instead of being in position, I’m dazed. I’m slanted. I look like a felled tree on the way to the ground. Worse than my posture, I think my tongue is sticking out in laughter.
I swear to you, I’d only had two glasses of wine.
A few of us carried on the night at a local dive, where we continued to talk and catch up. By midnight, my feet and body were tired. Some of the girls still had stamina, but I did not, and I was pretty sure I’d used up all my words.
Okay, so I misspoke. There is one more photo from the night I need to share. It’s Kathryn and me. When I think of high school, I think of her. I think of how much she kept me laughing, how we struggled through academics together, how much fun we had the summer before our senior year. We don’t live in the same city, but man, I wish we did.
Thank you, Cara, Fannie, and Katherine, for all of your hard labor pulling this reunion together. Thanks to everyone who carved out time to attend. For those who missed it, we missed you, but hopefully we’ll catch up at the next one.