The weekend of September 28th - 30th, I celebrated my 20 year class reunion. I could not have asked for a better weekend. There are not enough words to even begin to describe how much fun the weekend was. And the fun really began with all the planning. I was not there in Refugio to help plan all the details of what we would do but I did get involved in getting in touch with my classmates. I would send emails badgering and begging classmates to come to the party. A lot of us were excited right off the bat. Some others took some convincing. Refugio's Class of 87 had 69 graduates. A rough estimate of about 40 returned for the reunion. We also had a few classmates that moved away come back and celebrate with us which made it really special, too. I'm sure there are a lot of great stories about this weekend and these are mine. (If you just looked down and thought "Oh! Hell No! That is too much to read!" Just skip to the second to last paragraph and last sentence- it's the most important part anyway.)
The first "Refugio thing" we did was go to Moya's. Yum. And in true Moya's fashion, you always see people you know there- kinda like Cheers but with Mexican food instead of beer. But you can still have a beer. Next on the list was the Pep Rally. I thought my boys would really like this. And it's fun. Usually. I don't know who thought packing an un-air conditioned gym full of people and shutting all the windows at 3 o'clock in the afternoon in September in south Texas was a good idea but let's just say, "No, not such a good idea." Well, maybe they knew I needed at least one thing to bitch about. It was still fun. And I really think the whole turning out the lights and having the glow sticks was a cool entrance but past the entrance it didn't involve the crowd at all. Oh and one last thing- A slide show presentation of the kids is a good thing but...not at a pep rally. Save that for the auditorium. I wanted to cheer and clap and not lose 50 pounds in one sitting. Well, it's not such a bad idea after all! I did just eat at Moya's.
After the pep rally, we walked down memory lane by going down the halls. Some of the classes had used pictures of the past to decorate for homecoming week and it was really cool to see my mom, my brother and even me in a photo. This is when my goofy mood started. I was performing a cheer. The one that goes: I say Refugio. You say Bobcats. Refugio! ... snickers and laughs but no Bobcats! I kept going until some annoyed high school student finally yelled Bobcats. Then I did the cheer: R-H-S Beat the Greyhounds! It felt so good being ridiculous and making other people laugh and not caring what anyone thought of me.
The next big event was the football game. Little by little people began to trickle up the stands and sit with us. Lots of hugs. Lots of chatting. Lots of tradition. Some of my favorite moments of the game were when someone asked me if I was a cheerleader in high school. My response was, "No! Y'all didn't vote for me!" I realize I would have a made a horrible cheerleader back then. My voice is high and squeaky when I yell. I'm not particularly coordinated at doing jumps or tumbling. And lastly, I was way too shy and self conscious of making a fool of myself. So, it was probably for the better that they didn't vote for me. The bobcats scored and when that happens the band strikes up Dixie and the tradition is to stand up, clap and say Go! in the right spots. "Did y'all forget how this was done? Stand up and clap!" I love my class. I made it clear that we were not to have any wimpy "Oh, here we are." when the announcer announced that we were celebrating our 20 year class reunion and they came through with a loud whooping cheer. My last story about the football game was I saw this guy walking up the steps of the stadium and thought, "Who is that? He's cute!" He turned a little bit and turned out to be one of my classmates who is also the brother of one of my best friends. It was just funny in my mind because I was ogling him. He's like a brother to me. I told that same story over and over. Well, he is cute and he deserves to be told so. Hi James.
Let's see. After the game we went to the BBQ joint and had a little mixer party there. It was fun just to see each other and chat and take pictures but it was too short. So, when they kicked us out of there, we went to our local friend's house- Thanks Scott for hosting the Party Palace. I can't remember all the conversations in detail but just lots of fun conversations. Lara wanting to go to the beach. Dee telling her no. John Ed putting out his infamous sales pitch, "There are people who walk the walk and people who talk the talk. You're just talking the talk." I love it! There is my persuasive friend that can talk anyone into doing what he wants you to do! The next thing you know he was going to be talking us into taking our clothes off! HA! I was glad that I could entertain Jacques, too. He has the best laugh! I was calling my classmate, Lloyd, the wrong name. I kept calling him David. And Jacques just kept letting me until I made a total ass out of myself announcing loudly something about David Solis and he sweetly but firmly said, "Cheryl, I'm Lloyd Silvas." Can you say open mouth, insert foot? Rolls of laughter from Jacques! They stayed and partied until 5:30AM! I made it home and in bed by 2AM.
I got up to pee at 7 (TMI) and when I returned to my bed that I was sharing with my sister she started talking. At first my answers were brief with the small hope that I would get to go back to sleep but she kept talking. Then we could hear the kids get up and so I got up, too.
We had a luncheon at 11 where we included our kids. Angie had put together a photo show of pictures from the past. It was fun seeing us all 20 plus years back. But you know what? I think we all look better now then we did then. You know that saying "40 is the new 30?" Kristi went even further back- "40 is the new 20!' I'm going with that one! (I just saw a commercial on tv saying that 40 is the new 20 so what the hell do I know! She's right!) I'm 18 again! We had a group photo that turned out really good. By this time, I'm pretty tired and I'm starting to droop a little. This Sleeping Beauty requires more than 5 hours of sleep!
After the luncheon, Angie came over to get all the pictures I had taken up to that point and we started going through her photos. She kept saying "Do you remember so&so? He was from Town X?" My answer was always, "No." Damn that girl knew/knows a lot of people. I don't think she ever met a stranger. We drove back to DeDe's mom's house to steal back some of my photos. (They probably are DeDe's. I just remember some going missing.) I yelled out the window, "I'm going to pull an OJ and get my memorabilia back!" We drove up the driveway really fast like and start to get out. DeDe yells over, "You're in the wrong driveway!" I guess it was the lack of sleep that just made that hilarious to me and Angie! We sat and chatted with DeDe for a bit and then went home.
Saturday night was our dance. When I got there, I walked up to the bar to buy my first beer and someone started kissing me on my neck. "I don't know who you are but I hope you're buying my beer!" It was Kevin Pease who was supposed to be on safari in Africa or something like that. I had sent the man a 100 emails at least and he never responded to me. I gave him the directions of telling Lisa, his assistant, to hit reply and type out a quick response. How hard is that? Kevin did buy most of my beers that night so I won't complain too much. It was good getting to see him. It was good to see everyone. Several people from other classes were also there and everyone just looked so good. Anyway, the night was fun. I talked and laughed so much that I started losing my voice. I had so much fun just hanging out with my old friends. There were so many more fun moments. Seeing Rosie (Rosie and Kevin have the cutest 17 year old son that was there too) and Helen and sitting and talking with Janice, Jaylene and Sfroina. Thank you Janice for calling me skinny. That's the best laugh I have had in a while! Watching everyone dance. Hearing Scott Stone say, "Damn, All of us guys were so stupid! The girls in our class are hot!" Sweet justice, girls! The guys looked pretty good, too. I had fun watching Tuco and Authur Mae cut up the dance floor!
After they literally had to push us out of the Dance hall, we went pack to Stone's Party Palace which by the way has a snake in it! I do not like snakes!!! Ew! I guess we just couldn't get enough of each other! After a late night Whataburger treat that took 30 minutes to get (OMG!) I made it to bed at 3:30am. Thank you, Mom, for entertaining the boys until 11 so I could sleep! I made it back to Euless at 9pm, put boys to bed, unloaded the car, took a shower and settled down to watch Rock of Love! Bret Michaels, thank you so much for not picking the stripper! I am addicted to reality TV and had been following his dating reality show. He picked Jes. The girl with pink hair. She's so cute, she makes me want to dye my hair pink. But now I hear they're not together! What the hell! Why did I waste my time if his Rock of Love isn't even going to make it past the reunion show...which I missed. I digress.
I'm back to my current home now and back to work and back to our daily routines. Post reunion has been fun, too. Classmates have sent out the nicest emails saying how much fun they had, too. I don't know when it really hit me as to why I was having so much fun but it did hit me- I feel safe with these people. These friends of mine that I grew up with from Kindergarten. I feel safe in these traditions that still hold strong in the community where I grew up. I don't worry about making a fool out of myself because I truly enjoy making my friends laugh and seeing their familiar smiles.
My dear class members of 1987 and other Refugio Alumni - you are truly special and Refugio, you will always be home.
p.s. most of the photos are of me because face it...it's my blog. :)
