Hail All You Cougars

Word up, y'all. You'll have to listen closely, because I talked myself silly this weekend, and my voice is shot. (clearing throat ...)

My GD high school reunion was so bitchin', I'm actually a little blue now that it's over. At our 10 year, there were folks there who obviously wanted to make some kind of a point or try to out-do everybody in one way or another, so while fun, there was still a competitive air about the whole thing. Not so with the 20 year. I think by this point, everybody has gotten over all that crap and is more settled in their lives, and they just genuinely want to reconnect and have fun. And we had lots of it. Twice I came dangerously close to peeing in my pants because of things that were said or dance moves that were courageously attempted (not by me - the fierce shoes and my better judgment didn't allow much daincin'). I ate so much at dinner Friday and Saturday that I may have officially ODed on mexican food. And I laughed so hard, so often, that my face, neck, and back are still sore today. Gawd, I know some funny as shit people.

Friday night was dinner with my girls and their hubs, and the CD and DVD were huge hits. After that, T-Bone and I hit my FAVORITE bar ever ever in the whole world anywhere ever and enjoyed the orange moon and a hint of a breeze with a boatload of bikers and some random local scenesters. Perfect.

Saturday morning we met at a friend's house for lunch and swimming. The kids had a ball in the brand-new pool, however, Peach suffered a bit of an ankle injury while scurrying too fast on the deck. I think she was more embarrassed than anything, but she falls like me - HARD. My friend put the CD into the rotation, whereupon everyone admitted they had listened to it on the way home the night before AND viewed the DVD until the wee hours of the morning. I told ya they would eat those up.

Saturday afternoon we checked into our awesome hotel, and Saturday night was the big event. I'm better with faces than I am with names, but man it's hard to remember nearly 700 faces. Just like at the 10 year, I'm convinced the guys changed more than the girls - some now being nearly unrecognizable. And it's not just the hair loss. Their bodies are totally different, and some have not aged well at all. Guys are so weird.

About half way through the night, everybody had gotten sufficiently loosened up to just come right out and say, "I'm sorry, dude, can you tell me your name?" Or blatantly stare at people's nametags to figure out who the hell they were. I talked to just about everybody there, and the consensus seems to be that I look exactly the same and that I'm tall. Score one for the fierce shoes. I'm sure at least my hair looked like it did in high school because a) I've never been adventurous with my hair and have pretty much always had it all one length and b) when I thought about how humid it was outside, where we would be spending about half the night, I had to go with the ol' ponytail to downplay the lovely Ted Nugent thing I get going on when there's even one drop of moisture in the air. Seriously. My hair becomes dangerously big. I rounded out my sassy outfit of wrap shirt, cha cha skirt, and fierce shoes with my kick ass new La T necklace and thus stood out from out the sea of glittery tanktops and jeans or skinny pants, which seemed to be the uniform du jour.

The $55 appetizers proved to be the frozen fried shit you can get in bulk, plus some scary looking meatballs and cookies. They had ONE bar, which was a huge mistake, so we all did a lot of visitin' in the line outside. Score one for the ponytail. Everybody was buying at least two drinks at once, but it was so damn hot out there, and I was running my mouth so much, that I put down more half empty, warm second beers than I care to count. The place was nice, but the DJ was completely annoying and unnecessary (I mean, who really comes to dance at these things? Apparently, no one, until about the last 30 minutes, when a handful of jackasses couldn't restrain themselves any longer). He did do one thing right, though - he was instructed by the reunion committee that under no circumstances was our class president allowed to sing, lip synch, or otherwise perform, and I personally saw him wave off the prez and his huge ass cowboy hat several times.

Speaking of, as a fitting end to the weekend's events, the prez was the last person I saw as T-Bone and I were leaving the hotel bar after the reunion proper. He stopped me for a hug and a chat, and then he told T-Bone, "You know what, man? You got yourself a good one here." I said, "Oh come on now, (prez)." And he said, "No, I really mean it, you're a good one," as he continuously POUNDED me on the back. What am I, a friggin' horse? I seriously thought he was going to check my teeth and hooves next. Whatever, dude.