Back to school

Seven years after graduating from high school, most of us look the same. It was great to have the old crew back together again. We started off Thursday night with a reunion at the Great Northern, a local bar we used to haunt. Anna and I went in just to get my keys from my sister (because we were supposed to meet my old high school friend, Clare, at another bar), but we never left. We kept running into people we once knew. We made it about 20 feet and five different conversations about what we are now doing before we gave up and stayed.

The next day was the wedding, set at a Catholic church in Kalispell. I actually really liked witnessing a Catholic wedding. Sometimes wedding ceremonies are too hasty - a 15-minute exchange of vows before everyone runs off to party. This had some substance to it. The highlight was when the priest realized he had forgot the first page of the vows and left Annalee and Daniel standing at the alter while he went to get it, the microphone rustling as he went.

The reception was set under a large rectangle pavilion just outside Kalispell on a hillside. It was a great setting for them to start their married life. Even some of the boys who never danced in high school came out on the dance while a Blue Grass band played. I saw people there that I haven't seen in years.

Last night we had a barbecue at Anna's family’s lake house, on Whitefish Lake. We used to have Anna's birthday parties out there every year in high school. And every year Anna's mom would bring out a big flat cake from Costco. I forget how it started, but a cake fight became a yearly tradition, followed by a swim in the lake to rinse off the greasy frosting. This time, however, we managed to avoid it - mostly because we didn't have a cake, though everyone kept asking for one.

Still, it was fun to hang out on the deck as the sun set, eating burgers and drinking beer. Clare pointed out it was probably the first time we were out there drinking legally. Inevitably, all our most embarrassing or funny high school memories were rehashed.

Lesson Learned: As long as I reunite with my high school friends, my old nicknames will never die.