You can go home again, but it's weird.

So, my high school reunion. 20 years since I cried and cried and vowed never to forget one single person in my class. I did forget some of them, I must confess. But as we stood in the back of the room, watching the Class of 1987 Senior Slide Show, the names started to really come back to me.
I was nervous, and in the parking lot said to Scott "oooooolet's not go in." But he convinced me and I was glad to see straight away that I was not the fattest person in the room. I had new spanx and they made me look even pregnant-er, so Scott and I decided to tell everyone I was farther along than I am- "oh, around 4 months... or so..."
We found a few people and exchanged where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doings, then found my dear old friend Dave. Dave looks eerily like he did in high school- even his voice is the same- and his wonderful personality hasn't changed, either. We stuck together with him and his wife for the duration. Then a happy surprise- our friend Mike showed up! Dave and Mike were the best of friends, thick as thieves, true friends like you could count on being friends forever. They were a pair through high school and beyond, until a girl came between them- a girl neither ended up with- and it was heartbreaking and traumatic for me that they split, even from far away where I was. To see them together was so satisfying for me, even if it didn't mean that the rift was healed. So many memories of them both rushed back, and it felt good, having the three of us there, together, at least for that night.
I also saw my childhood friend Laura, one of my first friends- we found each other in the sand pits in first grade, I think- and played together for a series of recesses (We weren't in each other's class, so it was providence that brought us together). Then, we would meet again and again through the elementary school years until we finally were in the same class and could begin our best-friend-ness in earnest. It was such a warm feeling, seeing her again, and remembering her from so long ago- so many images in my mind, of us having sleepovers and broken hearts and first periods and mischief.
There was some weirdness to be sure- to see everyone had gotten so much older was really a shock. My brother told me, after his 10th year reunion, that what was satisfying about the experience was that everyone seemed to have "gotten what they deserved". I wonder what some old schoolmate of mine is blogging about me right now...