A Decade

FRIDAY: What a fucking day. I'm not going to go into detail but it was a rough one. I cried through my lunch and just felt shitty the majority of the day for various reasons. Life huh? What a bitch. Thankfully my mood improved when I left work. Sam's flight was delayed by a couple hours so I had some time to kill. On my way to check out the "new" SamFlax I drove through my old stomping grounds. I'm not really on that side of town all too often but when I am (and have extra time) I like to drive slow over the bumpy brick roads and reminisce for a minute about the "simpler" times. SamFlax used to be located just down he street from where it is now. I remember, Melody and I riding our bikes home and always stopping in to look around. It was one of our spots. It will forever remind me of her. Also, it's where Dustin and I had our wedding invitations printed - "Bleeding Cowboy"! It's just such a cool place and the new building is even cooler. The newer location is bigger and better. I took my time walking up and down the aisles looking at everything. I wanted to buy a new wax seal (yep, I totally use those like it's the 1800s) but I bought Erin a very fitting card instead.

Then I went to Starbucks. I ordered a drink and snack and sat down to write Erin a little note in the card, all while this couple next to me talked very loudly about a annoying dog in their building. Inside voices people! Before I left, I gave the girl at the cash register a gift card (that I bought earlier this week) and asked her to hand it out to one of her customers. She seemed hesitant at first but then seemed totally down to help. I left immediately afterwards. I never saw who she gave it to but I hope it made their day especially since mine was such a piece of shit.

I still had time to kill so I headed over to Erin's to hang out until it was time to pick up Sam. We talked about the future and vented about the present while Charlie jumped back and forth. Sam texted me that she had landed EARLY so I ran out of Erin's and rushed over to the airport. I circled probably 10 times. I knew that circle like the back of my hand. I could be a Nascar driver. Or not. Whatever. I opened my trunk and ran outside to help her. And then we hugged. It has been 4+ months since I've been able to hug her. Since I've seen her in the flesh. It was a little surreal. We got in my car and headed straight to the football game. It was so nice being able to have full on conversation with her. No kids to interrupt. No text messages to misunderstand. Just the two of us hanging out like we used. I had presents waiting for her because DUH. You don't pick someone up from the airport after months without presents. It's bad manners. I gave her a photo canvas of one of her favorite pictures of her and Pat, a Doctor Who key chain, shot glasses from our beach trip, two mixed CDs, and freshly baked cookies. I'm so happy she loved it all.

We made it to the game right at 7:30. We parked and then changed into some of my old school shirts. Go school spirit? I haven't stepped foot on that campus since the very last day of school my senior year. I drive past it all the time though and knew what to expect. It still kind of breaks my heart that it's so different than when we went there but going back to my last 'Currently' post - nothing is permanent. We walked in and immediately saw one of our old classmates - Robby. He gave us our tickets and we were officially enjoying an Edgewater Homecoming game. It was so weird being back. We went to our reserved section of the stands and found a group of people we used to know very well. Charlie, Sarah, Lance, & Courtney. We weren't too impressed with the actual game. The Eagles are not the team they once were, that's for sure. We all talked and caught up. It was fun. We all left our seats and stretched our legs a bit. We bumped into more people and had a great time. We even got a photo taken with Edgar (our mascot). A group of us decided to leave the game and walk over near the new campus (since we missed the tour due to Sam's flight delay). It was SO nice but completely different. They totally did away with the 100 & 200 buildings, the old cafeteria, the quad, and the old auditorium. Now there's just a grass field where all of those structures once stood. The weirdest part is that the building that used to be our library is now used as a weight room. WHAT?! The new campus is located on the other side of the football field in an area that wasn't even part of school when I attended. We recognized the totem pole first. It was front and center. We could kind of see inside but not enough to really get the lay of the land. Our little group sat out there and talked for a bit about the "good ol' days" before going our separate ways.

Thanks for hanging out with us Charlie, Sarah, Lance, Courtney, Woody and Andrew! It was more fun than paying attention to the game.

 

 

SATURDAY: I was able to convince Dustin to try 'FirstWatch'! AND...he loved it. AND...I got to have my way with that banana granola crunch pancake. We were in breakfast heaven.

We stopped by Best Buy just to walk around and then we were home by 10:30. I spent the majority of the day in bed watching HBOGO and decorating for Halloween.  It was wonderful.

And then 5PM rolled around which meant it was time for me to roll out of bed and get ready for Sam to pick me up for our reunion. I jokingly sent her a text that read "You better bring me a corsage!" and much to my surprise she did one better; red and white flowers (EHS colors). Yeah girl!

Having her drive me around Orlando was awesome and hilarious. Awesome because I rarely find myself in the passenger seat and hilarious because Sam forgot how to get around Orlando since she's been away. I wasn't paying attention because I assumed she knew the way. WRONG. HA!

We stopped for a little salad at Jason's Deli before going downtown. Once downtown we were met with a lot of traffic and road closures from all the Gay Pride Day celebrations. We got as close to Ember as possible and parked in the craziest garage ever. Also, since when is there a movie theater downtown? Am I the last to know about this?

We got to Ember right on time and immediately saw some familiar faces. At first, it was just our little group and a couple other eagles. We were all kind of scared that no one else would show up. But slowly and surely people started to trickle in. One of the highlights of the night was when Leo came walking up to our table and greeted everyone with a hug. Then he got to me and gave me that I-know-you-but-I-don't face and then said "Amanda?!" and everyone laughed. I laughed too. I was not in any way offended. I don't see myself as memorable because I really wasn't. I did not stand out in any way shape or form. And I'm fine with that. Also, it is totally the story of my life to be called every "A" name BUT Ashley. I joked that people could call me Amanda, Amy, whatever "A" name they preferred. Everyone got a kick out of it. And when Jason passed out name tags he gave me one that said "Amy" and I wore it proudly. I was also hoping I'd really fuck someone up trying to remember who I was.

It was nice to hear what everyone had been up to. Of course, we've all seen things here and there on Facebook pages or heard things through the grapevine but it does not compare AT ALL to hearing someone tell their own story in person. I'd give up the day to day status updates for a once a year (or more) get together. It's just so much more personal and fun. I was surprised that a couple people mentioned my 'Childfree' blog and how much they enjoyed it. It seriously made my night that they even took the time to take a look. It was that much cooler that they got where I was coming from.

Thanks to Sam (duh!), Jason, Amy, John, Mike, April, Robby, Leo, Woody, Andrew, Colby, Mrs. Arias, & anyone else that I got to hang out with, for a fabulous night. I thought it was extra cool that we got to talk to one of our favorite teachers. I remember loving her class. I can picture her old classroom in my mind. I remember that overhead projector and the way she spoke our stupid teenage language and totally called us out on our shit - but in the best way. She looked exactly the same too! So crazy.

Mike was the only one who ended up joining Sam and I at the after party also known as Steak & Shake (NOT DENNYS). It was weird eating at 12AM. What were we all teenagers again or something?! We had a good time discussing WoW, different ways to kill SIMS, & SeaWorld's Spooktacular. Sam dropped me off at home WAY past curfew. HA! I have never come home to a pitch black house and Dustin already asleep in bed. It was so strange! I tried to be quiet as I got ready for bed. Dustin kind of woke up and repeatedly asked "Did you have a good time? I love you." He didn't remember doing so the next morning. I rarely am able to stay awake later than him. And I'm the one who is usually delirious. Role reversal at it's finest.

 

SUNDAY: I miraculously woke up at 8AM even after going to bed after 1AM. It was short lived though because I crashed at noon for three hours. It was a lovely confirmation that I'm not as young as I used to be. But are any of us? I feel like that line from The Starting Line song "we got older, but we're still young" still applies.

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I know most people think reunions are lame. I mean, Dustin's class had to cancel their's because no one was interested in attending! Geesh! I was never the involved student during my days at Edgewater. I only went to one football game a year. And only two dances during the entire four years I was there. So really it made no sense for me to be so excited about a reunion since I didn't exactly exude school spirit when it counted. But I was. Because it wasn't about that stuff, not really. It was about the people in my classes. The ones I passed in the halls or sat next to on the bus. The ones who got me through the day. I wanted to see the people who made it all worth it. If I had high school to do over again, I'd totally spend less time skipping class (well, maybe not math) and make signs for pep rallies or help out with the yearbook. I absolutely would. But I will never get that time back and maybe that's the whole point. It turned out the way it was supposed to. And all any of us can do is keep moving forward. I viewed the reunion as a tool to look back without actually going back. And it was. So that's why I don't understand all those people who think they are too good for reunions.

We all wrote "stay the same" in each others yearbooks but that's ridiculous. None of us are the same as we were 10+ years ago. We've all been through some shit for better or worse. We've all grown as people. Sure, it was fun to see glimpses of our teenage selves this past weekend but I was happy to see everyone's current adult selves even more.

I know we will all scatter now and go our separate ways because that's what people do. They come in and out of your life. And that's ok. We all have to go in the direction that's right for us. However, I do hope that another 10 years doesn't pass by before bumping into all of them again. It was good seeing you guys! And to those that couldn't make it or didn't want to come, I hope you're doing well out there wherever you are.