For one night....welcome back to 1985....

...and I didn't even need a DeLorean.....

Arguably the most planned and anticipated event of the year took place Saturday night. The class of 1985 from Patrick Henry High School (well, about 20 percent of us...) came together for one night to compare looks, jobs, hairlines, tummies, or whatever else one comes to a reunion for.

I had already made my explanation regarding the obvious change in me....my weight gain. I was a 132 pound stick in 1985 (and in 1988 when I got married, actually), but I'm not near that now.

But, much to my surprise, it wasn't the gut.....it was all about the hair!!!

I have naturally curly hair. Not the "pretty" kind, mind you, the kind that drives you nuts. So, there are two choices to deal with it:

1) In junior high and high school, I got perms. Yep, perms. So, I had a "curly bush" of sorts (insert Three Stooges/President George W combo-joke here....)

2) You get a "number one all the way" at Great Clips and call it a day. That's been my mantra since 2001.

So, incredibly, person after person would look at my name tag, which proudly sported my senior year photo, then to me, and would exclaim, "WHERE'S THE HAIR??!!??"

So, that caught me by, well, pleasant surprise. :)

Highlights of the evening:

1) The ABC License: Yes, the minister applied for the ABC License. And as of Friday afternoon, we still didn't have it. Thankfully, it was in SATURDAY'S mail. So, upon arriving at the Center, I was immediately barraged by committee members with the only question that mattered to them at the moment----"DO YOU HAVE THE LICENSE??"

2) Settin' up: I didn't get to go help set up on Friday thanks to continual avalanches of work at, well, ah, work, so I just helped do a few little things before the event began.

3) Door, please?: Committee members were going to take turns minding the door, handing out stuff, etc. Bonnie and I ended up doing it all. We wanted to. Bonnie had every instruction memorized to a "T", and voraciously announced them to incoming guests (what did she care---she didn't graduate with us!!), while I checked the list and took last second payments. Why is this "good"? You see everybody as they arrive!!

4) People.....after all, it's what the reunion is all about. And since several attendees weren't at the 10 year reunion, it made the night all the more anticipated.

I'll only use first names, since I don't have "permission" to give you all the details on someone.....

--Sharon: One of the two people I most looked forward to seeing, because I last saw her on Graduation Night, 1985. Now engaged and a program director at a day care center armed with a Masters Degree and owner of two wonderful cats. She was (and is) one of the sweetest, most level-headed people I've ever known, and made a profound statement during a conversation we had that I needed to hear.

In discussing how she does NOT like to get on the phone alot at night after work (and I second that emotion), she noted how real friends "don't worry about how much they talk to each other; if they know someone likes to have private time, they respect it because, well, they're a friend! Amen! Friendship is quality, not quantity. She looked wonderful, by the way!

--Kim: Long-time friend of Sharon's (and me!) who came with her beau; I knew she was coming when she called the house this summer inquiring about the event (my wife talked to her). She's one of the ladies who fell into the category of "she looks the same as she did in 1985". Time has been extremely kind.

--Nancy: She was at the ten-year, but she married since then, so I enjoyed my first conversation with her hubby, as it revolved alot on radio and digital editing. She's a director of music and worship at a Presbyterian church (you know, a denomination not scared of letting a woman do something...) (ooh, did I just type that??), and she, too, looks 18 still. It's just not fair. :) She sneaks up from behind while the DJ played Wham's, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", and asked if it "sounded familiar". Since it was the opening number in our show choir's routine our senior year, the answer was, well, "vaguely, yes." :)

--Angie: ANOTHER non-ager? Yep. Got to meet her oldest daughter for the first time; in fact she spent lots of time talking with Bonnie during the night. She's so level-headed and I was so glad to see her after all these years.

--John: Ah, John. The Tar Heel fan. First I had to confess to stealing his team name for the my fantasy football team. In the 1980's version of "POF", he had a team and it was called "The Shish-Ka-Bobs". They even had a fight song:

"Go Fighting Skewers, march down the line...
We'll be the victors every single time...
We'll beat the worst and we'll beat the best...
and if we don't win the game we'll stab them in the chest..."

So, I used, in the current POF, "The Shish-Ka-Robs". Forgiveness and permission were granted. :)

I met his new wife; he's now in North Carolina (UNC fan who lives a three-pointer away from Duke's campus....HA!) and is a PI. You know, like Magnum. Except minus the moustache....

His wit still as sharp as a tack, and hilarious----Lord, it was good to see him.

--Dee Dee: Now in the banking world (she actually spent a week in training with my wife about 15 years ago at the old Signet Bank), she looked, well, yeah, you know. She looked EIGHTEEN for heaven's sake!! In fact, she won the award for "looking closest to she just took off the cap 'n gown".

--Kim (yep, another Kim!) This is by far the most incredible story of the event. Kim was saved after high school, and is now in the ministry with many years of service with the Salvation Army. She lived in Mandeville, Louisiana. I guess you know what's next by seeing the word "Louisiana"....

Her house was not flooded (she lives north of New Orleans), but four trees tore through her house. The Salvation Army's new store in New Orleans, which provided lots of their needed revenue, was damaged. Their office, incredibly was about spared.

With no more home and no more New Orleans base, she's sent to Atlanta, partially to help re-locatees.

GET THIS: Saturday morning, she woke up. She had earlier decided not to try to get to the reunion because of all that was happening in her life (sounds reasonable to me), but then, at the last minute, thought, "Hey, I paid to go, I want to go, I'm going." So, she came.

Oh, but did I tell you she woke up Saturday morning in ATLANTA???

Her faith and stability while talking to me and showing me photos of everything was absolutely overwhelming, leaving me not to question, but to know without a doubt that I could not have had the same faith, the same peace she experienced and continues to experience, based on where I am right now. I marvel at God's handiwork through her. What a journey.


Other notes:

--The biggest surprise of the night came when a lady approaches me and asks if I remember attending church with her. I was completely clueless. Come to find out I last saw her at Dad's church in Beaverdam 20 years ago when she was, oh, probably around 10 to 13 years old!! I couldn't believe it! We had a wonderful conversation.

--I successfully stayed away from the booze (aren't you proud?!?); but I think only Muriel and I were sober from the committee by midnight. :)

--Don't ask about the DJ; disaster city (when you have to threaten him/her with losing part of their payment for not following instructions...that's not a good thing.)

--Food? Awesome! Wonderful catering.

--How did so many nametags fall off people only to be stepped on and therefore become terribly affixed to the floor? Talk about panicking during clean-up!!

--Did I tell you the ABC license came in Saturday?

--I didn't realize dance moves were basically now simulated sex. I know, some of you, like a co-worker today, thought I was STILL living in 1985. Hey, I don't make it to the club scene like I used to....wait a minute....I never made it to the club scene....so I got a quick eye-opening lesson in dancing circa 2005. Yikes!

I could go on and on, but, I've about covered, I think, the basics. More will still come into the mind, I'm sure.

I'm so glad I went; glad I volunteered, and was overjoyed to see friends again.

I just wish more than 20 percent of the class would have come. Interestingly, the few classmates I've kept up with the best over these two decades weren't there. :(

In closing, where else can you spend the evening hearing:

"Atomic Dog"---Why must I feel like that; Oh, why must I chase the cat....(George Clinton)

"You Dropped A Bomb On Me"---You turned me out, you turned me on; And then you dropped me to the ground...You dropped a bomb on me. (The Gap Band)

"Burn Rubber On Me"---She won’t put the medal to the metal; And burn rubber, burn rubber on me, Charlie, No, no, no, no. (The Gap Band again!)

All we need was Neil Diamond's "America", Jan Hammer's "Miami Vice Theme", "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny and Dolly and "We Are The World" and we'd have been set. :)

Check out this list of the Top Songs of 1985....

Me?

I'll take #4, #14, #33, #34, #35, #39, #41, #45, #60, #64, #65, #67, #70, #75, #84, #92, #97 and #99.

On the other hand, the world would be a better place today without #100.

Alright, Doc----88 mph----let's get back to '05 and count my gray hairs!! Woo hoo!!