The High School Reunion

I've only attended two of my high school class reunions. I've gone to my tenth and the thirty-fifth. The main reason I've only attended two is that I've always lived too far away from my home state of Ohio. So, it was logistics and the fact that they most often held them at the end of August. That was right when my children had to return to school and it made all but those two reunions prohibitive.

Some may argue that two reunions aren't enough to make a valid and unbiased comparison. Some may also argue that two reunions aren't enough to base either like or dislike on and, okay, I can and do respect your opinions. Our experiences were different, I'm sure, but thank God I've only had to attend two ...

If I had to give it a name, the tenth reunion would be called:

The Reunion of "The I Haves" ...

I have this degree

I have this career

I have this position in my career

I have this salary

Man, do I have this salary ...

I have this wife/husband

She/he has this degree

She/he has this career

She/he has this position in her/his career

She/he has this salary

Man, does she/he have this salary .The rest of the night, I rambled from one group of friends to another. I told some of my brief stint as a soccer player in college, ruined by a bad knee, which I always mentioned with a groan and a rubbing of the knee itself. I also mentioned how I was still a soccer referee, and bragged how I sometimes did some professional level games. I also tried to get one of my friends to sponsor the soccer team I coached. We were trying to go to New York to compete in the regional tournament.

Later that night I left, whistling and humming to myself. My pocket was full of street and email addresses, and my date book had enough lunch dates to satisfy the hungriest or loneliest person in the world. My book, a final refuge if all had gone wrong tonight, laid untouched in my inner pocket. I drove off, happier with my life, than jealous of a yellow sport scar.