Back From The Southern Henterlands

Hi blog people. I just finished the week long work project I talked about in my previous post. My prediction of 10 hour days unfortunately turned out to be true. However, I did get my work done and was able to go to the HS reunion. Gong back to TN is always kinda weird and nice all at the same time. Here are some highlights (in fictionalized Twitter format):

9:15 AM Friday- Arrive at Nashville International Airport; see tourists taking pictures of themselves standing next to life sized photos of country music stars

9:45 AM- Get "upgraded" from a mid-size car to a full blown SUV by the rental car company. I hadn't planned on showing up to the reunion in a gas guzzler, but it does have XM satellite radio, which has the potential to be cool.

9:50 AM- Get on the road, headed to best friend J's house. The lack of aggressive driving and people in general as compared to Chicago is noticeable. Now that I've lived in Chicago for four years now, I really notice the open space "back home."

10:30 AM- We make a pit stop at the Shoe Carnival to look for some shoes to go with my dress. Despite my notoriously hard to find shoe size, I end up finding two pairs of shoes that are cute, comfy, and actually fit. Awesome! After paying for the shoes I experience what would turn out to be a pattern of me confusing cashiers by saying that I don't need a bag for my merchandise.

10:45 AM- Notice a Christian store in the same parking lot as Shoe Carnival. We don't have many of these in Chicago either. We think about going into the store and attempting to "buy some Christians."

12:00 noon- Finally arrive at Best Friend J's parents' house, which is even more beautiful than I remembered (a la 19th century plantation home, beautifully decorated, and with a totally awesome garden). The dogwoods are all in bloom in Middle Tennessee-- so so beautiful!

12:10 PM- Meet Best Friend J's BF; judge him to be made of awesome (especially after learning that he's a devotee of the Dish Network's "Chill" music channel). We have a lovely lunch with J and Awesome BF then head back to the house to get dressed for the evening's events.

4:00 PM- After getting all gussied up, we drive our SUV parade down to the lil' town where our school is located. We meet up with Best Friend H! yay! The three of us haven't been together in over 5 years. We promise not to wait as long for the next get together.

6:00 PM- Show up at Reunion fashionably late, but apparently not late enough seeing as we were the first people from our graduating class to show up. Yep. We're still the dorks.

8:00 PM- After pleasant greetings from old classmates and teachers, we settle in for a nice southern meal and the worst Comedian EVER! (Well, that's not really true. He was actually pretty funny, although he did insult "southern people" and "rich southern people" on multiple occasions, which didn't go over well with the predominantly rich southern people crowd. Also, who wants to shut up and have to listen to a comedian when they could be talking to people they haven't talked to in, lets say, TEN YEARS! At one point he asked "those people who want to continue the cocktail party to leave the tent." So, by the end of his set, about 80% of the audience had left. I really feel sorry for the guy, but there's no getting around the fact that it was a huge disaster all around).

10:00 PM- After surviving the comedian, we stick around long enough to get in the class photo. Out of a graduating class of 35 or so people, about 12 of us showed up. There were a lot of people who I would have loved to see who weren't there, unfortunately.

10:15 PM- Get accosted by an inebriated member of the graduating class of 95 or 96 who feels it necessary to repeatedly bring up an embarrassing aspect of my high school experience. It was a sensitive subject then and still is now. Thanks for making me relive that. At this point I retreat to the car and wonder why I bothered to show up.

11:00 PM- Am reminded that a meal of waffles and hash browns from the Waffle House, along with the company of Best Friends H and J, can cure any fowl mood.

11:30 PM- Spend about ten minutes driving around trying to find Best Friend J's parents' vacation house that they've so kindly lent us for the weekend. The numbers aren't clearly marked, so we end up looking in people's mailboxes for clues. Eventually we find the house completely by accident. YAY! We are so tired. We all stagger in and go to bed almost immediately.

Here ends Day 1 excitement!
:)
Stay tuned (for more marginally entertaining details of my weekend). :)