A Blast from the Past

I got an e-mail from a high school pal of mine Sunday inviting me to see her profile on Facebook. We were in school together from third grade on, had lots of classes together, and were both in a couple of plays together our senior year. I haven't seen her in at least 30 years.

Before that e-mail I'd resisted the urge to become a social networker. Blogging (posting and keeping up with other blogs) is a big enough time waster for me--I didn't feel like I needed another. On top of that, I'd been told that I was too old for Facebook since it was primarily for 20-somethings.

Well, if she could be on Facebook, I could too. So I created a profile, posted some pics, and started looking for FB friends. Facebook is the Internet equivalent of crack. It's her fault that I've been combing through profiles looking for friends for most of the last 48 hours. As I write, I'm up to 47 friends!

Of those 47 friends, 16 are high school pals, 15 are coworkers here in Georgia, 6 are colleagues that work in other states, four are spouses or children of friends of mine, 3 are friends (no connection to work), 1 is a cousin, and I have no idea who in the hell two of them are.

By far, the most interesting are my high school pals. We have a class reunion every five years. So far, I've never missed one. The five year reunion was just like high school--exactly. The 10 year was interesting because I went with a troop of lesbians and a suitcase full of drugs and alcohol. Apparently, I'm the only gay man in our graduating class of 675 students, but we have LOTS of lesbians. To say we were the life of the party would be an understatement.

I went to the 15 and 20 year reunions with hubby #1 and the lesbians. He went to the same high school but graduated a year earlier. Hubby #2, 8 years my junior, went with me and the lesbians to the 25 year reunion. The wonderful man I'm with now (who I fully expect will be my last hubby) went with me to the 30th. He's 22 years younger than me, so many of my classmates have kids his age or older. Was a tad awkward for him but I had a ball.

The last time I caught any flack for being gay was at the ten year reunion from some of the jocks. I was more than a little wasted and with that, perhaps a tad mouthy. Fortunately, the lesbians kept them from beating me up.

Now we're all just glad to see the people we grew up with. Even the jocks the lesbians saved me from greet me with a hug today. Any differences we may have had then or have now pale in comparison with our shared histories. My high school pals can appreciate more than just about anyone the person that I am today, and vice versa. After all, they knew me long before I became...

The Crotchety Old Man