The reunion was over, and my friends were right...

Just got back from my 20th reunion - it was pretty good after all!!!!

I walked in and a few people were like "Oh my God! Look at you!!!" One of my classmates whom I see in town fairly often said, "Hey! I didn't recognize you without your dog!" The ones who still live here and see me out and about were still in awe at how much I'd lost -- some of them hadn't seen me in a few weeks (except the regulars). Even my cousin was like, "Dang girl!!!!"

There were several people I hadn't seen in 20 years who were there -- and it was fantastic to see them! A good many of us still live right in the area ... the ones who are parents tend to see each other more often than those of us who aren't parents, but it's all pretty cool.

They had a memorial table with four pictures -- including Tee's. That part made me sad and yet proud that someone had remembered her. And the classmate that I wasn't sure earlier this summer if he had died or if it was just someone with the same name ... well, it was him. That made me very sad to know that my fears were confirmed. Chris was a nice guy and it's awful that he left us too soon.

The truly "Pretty Cool" moment of the night: Right after the blessing of the food, George (one of my classmates) came up and hugged me and said, "You look good!" I said, "Aw, thanks George." Well, later that evening, he sat next to me and said, "You look good!" I relayed my thanks again and began to explain that I'd lost all this weight..... He stopped me and said, "I don't give a damn about that. What I'm saying is that YOU. LOOK. GOOD. You look happy. It's not the clothes or their size or any of that. Being happy makes you look good."

I nearly cried. And I'd had a similar conversation about an hour before with the classmate who became an attorney -- with a practice here in our hometown. He said, almost apologetically, "I know I'm never going to make a ton of money, but it turns out that's not what I wanted after all." This is the guy who thought Alex P. Keaton was a great role model ....... and his buddy, the developer/businessmen/politician -- same thing.

When I got home, I talked to a girl who I thought the world of in high school.... she wasn't able to make the reunion ... but is planning to come to the picnic tomorrow. I'm going to stop by for a few minutes before going to Stacey's house because I've not seen her in 15 years, and would dearly love to see her.

We're all better people than we were in high school. We're all better people than we were ten years ago. My friends were right all along. And I'm actually looking forward to #25 (which they're already talking about).