RETURN TO WITCH MOUNTAIN

This past weekend, I attended my five year college reunion.

It was a strange and interesting event. Mmy first official reunion, although it's not the first reunion to which I've been invited. That honor goes to my five year high school reunion. But that one was kind of slapped together at the last minute ("whoever is in town for Christmas, let's all meet at Senor Pancho's") and I already had my plane tickets when the "invitation" came out, so I missed it.

My five year college reunion was a little different. They had both aspirations and a budget to match. It was an Event.

They offered seminars, dinners, brunches, gatherings, dances, and so on. All this came, of course, at a price (considerably greater than, say, Senor Pancho wanted for a pitcher of margartias) but was worth it, even though I skipped out on some of the parties (and consequently missed Alex's proposal to Bonnie, which occuurred during the fireworks - congrats to them!).

I spent much of the weekend showing my girlfriend where I had my classes, where I ate lunch, how far I had to walk between one and the other. She performed a passable imitation of "someone who is not bored" and I certainly appreciate that.

I also introduced her to the various friends, acquaintances, and ne'er do wells who spiced up my college years. These people are the real reason I was there. You know... that whole "reunion" concept. I did not get to see all of the people I wanted to. The only person to show up from my first-year suite was the one person I would have bet money would NOT be there - seeing him was a pleasant surprise, but I missed the others. Fortunately, I did see plenty of other people I had been hoping for, and some I had not thought about in a long time. I was even able to catch up with several others who were in or passing through Charlottesville for other reasons (if I were to run my own personal reunion, it wouldn't be based on which year you graduated...).

Besides the people I knew I knew, I also spent a good deal of time looking around and trying to remember WHY certain other people looked familiar. Did I recognize that guy because we shared classes and projects together, or was it simply because he and I tended to have the same eating schedule and he was always about five places ahead of me in the lunch line? Did I recognize that girl because she was in the beginning karate class I helped teach, or was it simply because she sat next to the cute girl in my comm class who I asked on a date once? One answer meant that person could be approached and engaged in conversation. The other meant they would be weirded out.

I did get into a few of these conversations, the kind where we exchanged earnest updates on our lives and careers since college while one or both of us was furiously struggling to remember what, if any, association we had and when, if ever, we had spoken to each other BEFORE this reunion.

Like I said, a reunion is certainly a strange and interesting event. The atmosphere is certainly unique. There's nothing like a reunion to make everything seem both old and new, both familiar and alien, both cherished and distant - all at once. It's a strange experience and one I recommend heartily/cautiously.