Reunions

Went to a book launch last night.  Simply couldn’t miss it as the book being launched was written by my old high school pal, Steve Hayward.  (Don’t Be Afraid is the story of a family that digs into grief as they deal with the loss of a child.  But, it’s Steve, so it’s also pretty funny.  That’s talent, my friends.  The Globe & National Post & basically everyone else who has reviewed it agrees.)

The launch was incredible; incredible to see Steve so accomplished and mature (eek!) yet still the same loud and obnoxious guy from high school who tried to steal every scene of every play he was in with me.  He usually did.  That’s talent, my friends.

Also incredible about last night was the gang that organically gathered from those old high school days to celebrate Steve’s success – many of us haven’t seen each other in way too many years but, as it should be with old friends, it was like time hadn’t passed at all.  I love that. 

Everyone’s doing their thing: Ed’s still nuts, a musician who I swear is still carrying the same World Famous satchel he was in high school; Mike was on the radio but is now in marketing; Curt’s in PR; Cate’s a teacher; Jen’s a mom; Dan’s a pastor; Kristy’s a midwife; Ian (my personal hero) does graphic animation for a company that WON AN OSCAR; and me, a person who can’t describe their job in less than a paragraph.  Our drama teacher, Mr Dragonieri (still can’t manage to call him Theo) was there, too, telling those involved that “our production of Midsummer Night’s Dream was the best high school production of any thing he’s seen or done since”.  Sweet stuff.  Come to think of it, it was pretty damn good.  Mind you, that “O Spite! O Hell!" monologue was a motherfucker to learn, but seeing as how I actually remember most of it I guess it was worth it.  That was 23 years ago.  WHAT ?!  Wow. 

I loved high school - there wasn’t any Breakfast Club clique-ness going on as we were just too small for that and simply needed all hands on deck: the school nerd was President of our Student Council and reigned benevolently alongside the captain of the lacrosse team, the yearbook editor and the drama geeks (that was me).   You could be cool and you could be a nerd at once and all together.  This clearly spawned my enduring love affair with nerds and also taught me the value of acceptance.

Seems to me we’re so caught up with where we’re going we don't often take the time to look back to where we came from. We should.

Richmond Hill High School, Rah Rah Rah.