10 years has nothing on me!

The class reunion was a blast! Brent’s class didn’t have an official 10 year reunion so this was my first experience and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Our name tags had our senior yearbook pictures on them, which was kind of neat and funny to see how some people had changed. I pretty much look the exact same but with shorter hair! It was casual compared to some of my friend’s reunions I’ve seen on pictures of on face book. I found a really cute dress that I felt very flattered and comfortable in and bonus…it was on super sale for only $15!!! We had a great time catching up with some old friends and Brent was a rock star finding his own conversations and new people to mingle with! I also pointed out my old high school love interest to which Brent appropriately pointed out that I was way hotter than his wife!

Again, not knowing what to expect, I thought the gist of the conversations at the reunion would be learning what everyone was doing these days, where they work, how many kids they have, etc. Surprisingly, I can’t really tell you much of what people are doing now…it was very casual everyday conversation but it was kind of nice. There wasn’t any “pressure” to feel like you had to prove how successful you’ve become or whatever…it was just a bunch of old friends hanging out! Because I had had a few beers when I first arrived, I didn’t take the time to make my usual plate of food…which was our only dinner for the night. After getting high on a quick blitz of chicken fingers we did do a little dancing and a big group picture before going on to the next destination. Looking back I should have know skipping dinner was the first sign it was going to be long night!

We all decided to meet up at a bar downtown. Unknown to us, there was a huge fight on TV and the entire greater Columbia area was at this bar to watch it. It did finally clear out after the fight was over and we had a great time. We unfortunately got separated from some of our old classmates but ran into an old friend of mine and Brent’s from Winthrop so we had two reunions in one! I guess I haven’t been out in Columbia in a while or maybe things have changed, but this bar closed promptly at 2am…and by promptly I mean a very large man walked around with a bus tub and insisted that we put our drink in it (full or not) and then politely pointed us in the direction to the exit! We were back at Melissa’s not much longer after that and probably part of the reason she is my best friend is that she had a frozen pizza cooking before I even changed clothes! The girls went out on the patio while it was cooking and when we came back in Brent was sitting upright on the couch holding a pillow over his face! As he went to bed, we stayed with drunken emotional girl talk until around 5pm….hello what were we thinking! I felt terrible for Jessica b/c she had to be at work the next morning. At least Melissa, Brent and I had the flexibility of having nothing to do but to feel terrible! Mel and I finally put some shoes on and went to fetch some Rushes hangover food. We somehow escaped with only 3 cheeseburgers baskets, a hot dog, three sweet teas, and two milkshakes. Brent was still sleeping upstairs so Melissa and I started to dig in. She looks over to me and says: “Jennifer, we are inside watching TV…why do you still have your sunglasses on?” My only response was: “I know, it just feels right!” After rotating eating, napping, trying to eat some more, and lying around some more…Brent and I finally left to go back home around 4. The moral of this story is that 10 years has taken its toll and reminded me that we are certainly not 18 anymore! All in all, even with the hangover, it was a great trip and I’m so glad I got to share it with my best friends and husband!