Alum-na-slug

Before I get to homecoming reporting, I need to speak of Madonna's newest album, "Celebration." How I have failed to mention it before today is beyond me. I may lose my status as a Madonna Whore for such ridiculousness. Here I am, holding the poster included with the CD. I'm not sure why Madge picked this particular image, but she did and thus I am displaying it with true blue Madonna pride.

My only complaint is, "Ester, why do you continue to boycott the song, 'Rain?' I don't get it. The song has an incredibly awesome video, it's a fabulous song, you sound great on it, it's one of your many hits....and, yet you continue to ignore it. What memory does it have that you refuse to include it anywhere? Is it like rain, rain go away? You know, you could leave that stupid La Isle Bonita song off one of your tours or greatest hits album and put 'Rain' in its place--no one would be the wiser. Please--don't dis the Rain!"

As for the first of many 25th-year homecoming/reunion events this weekend, I am happy to report that last night's dinner & awards ceremony went swimmingly and very fun, full of memories. There are only three classmates from my graduating class participating in the event, despite this being our 25th reunion/homecoming. We three are an interesting mix because we really didn't know each other (and certainly didn't hang out with each other) while at our alma mater, which is actually weird because our school is so small (only 300 or so people lived on campus back then) and you'd think we'd have known each other better despite having diverse interests. As for the lack of 1984 alum-returnees-for-the-reunion, I don't get that almost as I don't get the whole Rain/Madonna thing; there are many alums still in the area....I mean, for gosh sakes, if an alum from our class flew in from New York, can't ya drive seven minutes from your house?

Anyways, the wife and I got all doodied up (she insisted I not wear jeans and a t-shirt, so I donned a business suit with school-themed-colored turtleneck, accented by a pair of my "work shoes") and we wandered in to the social hour. The wife, by the way, really dislikes such events. She wants to stand in a corner, unnoticed. None of this socializing for her. It's like pulling teeth to get her to these things, even though she always ends up having fun. (For the record, the wife was correct about my attire--everyone was wearing business suits or nice pants outfits or other non-jean-fashions.) For visual purposes, picture me wearing a name tag with a big silver ribbon with silver writing hanging from it, proclaiming this to be my 25th year homecoming. (Oh dear, I wasn't anticipating the broadcast of my silver anniversary.) Gift bag in hand, we wandered the crowd looking for a familiar face.

The wife knew several people, as she works at our alma mater. (I'm not sure if that was helpful or not for her.) We found Alum 2/3 (I get to be Alum 1/3, as it's my blog) and quickly settled in to catching up and sharing stories. It's a small world and since she still lives in the area, it turns out we have mutual acquaintances. There were a few moments I think we were all incredulous in relation to this small world thing. Alum 3/3 and gal pal didn't show up until we were seated for dinner, but you can't blame her as she was traveling from New York and flew in to O'Hare, which is always entertaining and certainly never on time.

As it was quite the crowd, Alum 2/3, the wife and I grabbed a table, saving seats for Alum 3/3 and gal pal. As there were three chairs left, three strangers plopped down at the table (grads from the late 60's, that's all I'll say, to protect their guilt); one lone guy and a husband/wife team. The lone guy seemed friendly and normal enough--business casual kind of guy, fun stories, approachable, cool glasses. He had many accomplishments, had traveled the world, was known in many upper circles, etc. yet he was still down to earth and certainly not there to impress the five ladies seated at "his" table. The couple, on the other hand, were definitely ready to impress the crowd--not by their looks but rather through their stories, accolades, accomplishments, contacts and experiences. The wife was very meek and mild and had little, if anything to say; she left it all up to her husband. Ugh! Mr. Husband-alum was all puffed up, talking about his incredible accomplishments--in college and after graduation, business ventures, this and that experience, world conquests. All I wanted to do was talk to Alum 2/3 and 3/3 but this guy was interfering with my efforts. Yes, he had stories that merited sharing (to someone else besides me), but I really didn't care that he returned to Italy 25 years after going there in college and getting a personal tour from some famous Italian or that he opened a senior day care in Japan or that he.....blah blah blah. He was boring. Someone else sharing these tales might have made it much more palatable. Thankfully, the wife got stuck talking to him most of the time, while us three Alums shared stories of our antics while in college and our experiences since graduating.

Did I mention the sexual orientation of we five ladies seated at the table? If not, you go right ahead and guess. I'll give you a clue--the meek and mild wife looked shell-shocked by the end of dinner. It wasn't planned this way and it certainly wasn't related to the reason any of us came to the reunion--it was a nice "surprise" to us.....but, not such a nice surprise to the mortified meek/mild wife. Alumna-wife had nothing to say. Nothing. She just kept that half smile plastered on her face, eyes turned toward the table, shell-shock glaze covering her whole being.

As I listened to the various alums receive their awards, I began to realize: I am an alum slug. These people have done all sorts of truly amazing things; I basically get tattoos, whine about my weight, lust my chiropractor and write a blog. My master's degree, middle management job and board-membership on one local not-for-profit board paled in comparison to the people on stage.

Slug, slug, slug!

Now, I am not complaining one bit about my life, because I am one lucky, happy camper and truly have a wonderful life. It's just that I haven't exactly accomplished the things these overachievers have pounded out, year after year. They weren't braggy or showy--they were just amazing people who happened to graduate from the same school as me. I know, I know--accomplishments aren't everything.....but, when you are sitting there, it's hard not to feel like a slug. I kept thinking, "these people graduated from my college?" From almost unbelievable missionary & volunteer work to major television top executives, it was a parade of incredible people.

Sigh. Slug. I am an alumna-slug. Such a small cog in such a big world.

To my delight, my alumna-slug-ness was wiped right off the map when the five of us decided to go to Shake-the-steak for ice cream and milk shakes. It was back to the real world, with real people. Despite it being 11 PM, I downed a delish hot fudge sundae (against all food rules I have to eat so late) and enjoyed the tales being spun. Before I knew it, it was almost midnight and my brain had turned to a sugar-saturated ball of mush and we had to end the evening. We bid adieu and made plans to meet mid-afternoon on Saturday.

Each of us took such different "things" from our college days; each of us had such different experiences. Each of us are very different--and, yet the same-- as we were 25 years ago. We look the same in many ways; yet we look different (and, that grey hair we all have betrays our internal youth!). We all ended up in such different places but, no matter where we go or where we've been, we will always have that one thing in common: our college.

And, for that, I am grateful, alumna-slug or not.
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