Saturday evening we went to Anthony's Banquet center for the reunion dinner. It was probably my favorite part of the reunion. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard for so long as I did this evening.
It was a beautiful evening...We brought Aimee with us to the dinner. She is a hoot.
There was a little photo memorial of the classmates that we've lost. Angi in the upper left was actually on the reunion planning committee and was diagnosed with Lymphoma and died very suddenly around a month before the reunion. It was extremely shocking as it was only perhaps 2 weeks from when she was diagnosed to when she passed away...she had 4 kids and was a devoted mother ~ it was a tragic loss. There were some raffles that evening and proceeds went to her family which was really nice.
Dusty, our reunion chair....
is quite a character. And she is an artist....that deals in ahem,
adult subject matter.
So she had some of her artwork that she was raffling off. Most of Dusty's artwork were landscapes...but there was one that was a nude. Of course it became the goal to win this artwork (no surprise that Dan thought it would be hilarious if I won it and put tickets in the envelope). Sadly (or not), we never stood a chance. The person who proudly won had stuffed the envelope with $90 worth of tickets!
There was just a lot of goofing around and
smiling and
laughing.
It wasn't the kind of reunion where people were checking to see how you measure up in relationship to everyone else. There was of course, the "catching up" conversations, but it was really mostly about just being together and having fun. It's hard to describe, but there was something about being around people that we've known since we were little (in some cases, all the way back to Kindergarten) ~ that just lent itself to such a relaxed atmosphere. And it was so much fun.
Ami and I tried to take a photo together. But we ended up just laughing so hard ~ Dan just stood and snapped photos of us.
Which I'm glad that he did because this really depicts my experience at the reunion.
I literally just laughed the night away. My sides hurt for two days afterward and my cheeks hurt too.
When I saw my friend Whitney on Friday night she said that she thought Dan and her husband John (whom we had never met) would get along. It turned out that John was so great! He was friendly and funny and I liked him immediately. By Saturday night Dan and John were having quite the time together. Here they are being "high rollers."
I think they had $16 between the two of them.
Aimee had to get in on the fun.
All sense of decorum was out the window by this time. There was just all sorts of ridiculous fun. Parenting, jobs, responsibilities weren't on anyone's radar at this point.
Dan had a really great time as well. We joked that he and John thought it was their reunion too. They certainly fit right in and had just as much fun (if not more!) than the rest of us.
After this photo was taken we left and went to the Richland landmark "The Town Crier."
Where things continued to deteriorate.
I sat across from Jim, pictured below and I don't think I hardly said a word, I was laughing so hard the entire time. He was our class president and is now an attorney. He is beyond witty and had me in stitches. I had to get up and leave the table because I couldn't recover. And it really was just the humor ~ I had one drink the entire night.
We stayed at the bar until it closed.
Then we stood outside the bar and talked and laughed some more. Then part of the group decided to go get on a boat.
And when it was all said and done, we were the last Bombers standing. Except for those on the boat, but I'm pretty sure they were sitting. From left, Me, Whitney, Jim and Chris.
I was so happy that I went to the reunion. It was great to see friends happy and doing so well, and it was nice to let go and have fun. I think I got 7 1/2 hours of sleep the entire weekend. There was a function on Sunday at noon, but we opted to head home. I was exhausted (in the best possible way).
A big thank you to my mom who watched the kids for us!
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