Back to the Future

Tonight, I am going out to dinner with someone I haven’t had contact with in 19 years. Where the hell do you start when it’s been that long? For Pete’s sake, I’ve had eight cars, 43 different hairdos and developed a terminal fixation on Xena Warrior Princess since the last time we crossed paths. Last time this person saw me I had no tattoos, weighed 30 more pounds, didn’t live in a house, didn’t have a master’s degree, didn’t have any nieces or nephews, was still sucking down cheeseburgers, was still buying albums and had never attended a Madonna concert yet. In that time, I have had short hair, really long hair, dyed hair, long hair again, back to short hair. I’ve been a long-distance runner, tripped over my own two feet and become a non-runner. My parents have lived in California, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, North Carolina during that timeframe. I gained a master’s degree, a house, two dogs, a pack of nieces and nephews, several new diagnoses and more tattoos than I care to count. I was an orthodontic assistant the last time this lady saw me….and, that was about twenty jobs ago! She has no idea I’m an art therapist, a vegetarian, a Dairy-Queen Blizzard and Starbucks Frappaccino addict or a computer nerd….

(Photo of Angelina getting a tattoo--do I tell this long-lost dinner lady I lust after Angelina? After Angelina's tattoos? ABout Tattoos in general?)

…The only consistent in this whole time period is the wife. (Here’s a big shout out to the wife--What a woman to hang in through all this nonsense.)

Do I bring photos? Do I bring a resume? Do I bring the wife? Do I show her my appendix scar? Do I tell her I have a spirit guide named Grover???

The last thing I knew, she lived in California, had few nieces and nephews, was getting braces and was doing some top secret work (literally). I’m pretty sure a few things have happened since then.

Who will have time to eat when we have all this nonsense to talk about? I’ll let you know how it goes and how much history I can pack in to one dinner…

....and you KNOW I'll show her my appendix scar and talk about poop. Some things are just a given....