Today was the second day we woke up in Lake Havasu, and it's the only place on our trip where we stayed 3 nights. The plan for today was going to look a lot like the last 2 days, with one exception. 3 words: High School Reunion!
We've all been sleeping really, really hard the last 2 days, thanks to all of the sun and swimming we've had. The Airbnb came with some pool toys that mostly worked - there were 4 pairs of goggles (2 of which worked), 4 water guns (2 of which worked), about 10 pool noodles (most of which were pretty badly sun damaged, but still floated), and a few toys designed to sink that the kids could dive down to grab. The kids had a blast, but arms, toes, feet, and foreheads were starting to look a little worse for the wear. Good thing today's the last day!
I swam until about lunch time, when I hopped through the shower to get ready for the big event tonight. The pool was pretty gross thanks to some chemical imbalance and tons of dirt in and around the pool, so I quite enjoyed the shower. My sister also took off to take a shower and do her hair, and came back after what felt like 3 hours. We all hung out for a little while and took a few pictures, since there was a strong chance not everyone would be awake when we got back tonight, and we need to hit the road early(ish) in the morning.
A few months ago, I got an email from classmates.com that said my high school reunion was scheduled to happen this summer, and because attendance is usually so abysmal, they made it a "20-ish" year reunion, covering graduating classes of '01-'04. "Hey, that's when we're going to be in town, and that would cover both me and my sister's graduating class. I think I have to go," I said. And then promptly forgot about it for months. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful wife who keeps me on track or I might have missed out on the greatest night of August 14th, 2023 that I've ever experienced. My sister had ZERO interest in going, so I made sure she didn't have any excuses. We bought her ticket and I did my best to talk it up, despite it not really being my scene.
"But I don't talk to anyone from high school," she said. "That's okay! I'm sure you'll find some people you recognize," I said. "I'm in the Facebook group, and there's no one in my graduating class that's going," she said. "Then you'll make some new friends!" I replied. She tried, but I wouldn't let her weasel her way out of it. If nothing else, we get to hang out together!
I made her drive, and when we got to the Aquatic Center (because of course it was at the Aquatic Center), it felt like they really rolled out the red carpet for us. We walked up the stairs, through the double doors, and past the security guard who pointed us down the tiled hallway and through the doors on the left. We stood in line to get checked in, and I had my e-ticket at the ready, but it turned out we were already on the list and she just needed our names. She gave us our name tags, bags of swag, and raffle tickets, then sent us on our way. The venue was setup in a way that was oddly reminiscent of prom, made even more odd because I was there with my sister. The best part? Because we bought her ticket, her name tag didn't indicate that she was a former student, only as my "plus-one". So it literally felt like I took my sister to prom. Weird.
Just beyond the table where we checked in were a semicircle of tables surrounding a dance floor littered with balloons. Blue, purple, and pink lights pulsed, splashing colors on the walls while early 2000s music blasted from the wall beyond the dance floor, just below the basketball hoops. In the far corner, opposite of where we entered, sat a table with some props and a digital photo station which will text your picture to you.
Directly behind the check-in table sat a row of tables along the wall, and these were our first stop. We admired the table holding the enormous bounty of raffle baskets. We stood for several long moments, trying to decide the best basket to place our try our luck with; I chose the gift card basket while my sister chose the candy/movie basket - the charcuterie basket pouted, scorned by us both. Continuing along the wall, we passed a table piled high with little buckets of popcorn, but we passed on the party favors, since each table also had some. Next, were 4 tables nestled together in a large rectangle, absolutely covered (sincerely, there were so many pictures) with photos of students from the 4 classes present who had passed away since graduation. There were probably 50 students represented on the table. We slowly looked at each picture, paying our respects. Immediately following the memorial tables, the mood takes a sharp upturn at the cupcake table! And about 20 feet beyond that was the bar, but we didn't bother to visit there.
We meandered toward an empty table and had nearly reached it when a lesbian couple called out to us, inviting us to their table. We introduced ourselves, talked about our graduating year, talked about where we live, and then someone walked in that they knew, so they ran over to give hugs. They graduated the year before me, and it sounds like most of the attendance at the event was from that year. Oh well! We chatted with ourselves and with the occasional stranger who mistook us for someone else and after a bit decided to investigate our swag bag.
Looking into the bag, the first thing we encountered was a box of Narcan. If you're unfamiliar with Narcan, it's used to treat a narcotic overdose. Next, we found pamphlets talking about domestic violence, substance abuse, and suicide prevention. Depressing, but we later found out that the organizer for the reunion felt like she needed to include those resources due to the untimely deaths of our former classmates. Further down in the bag, we found a big coffee mug and some random bits of 2000s nostalgia like JUICY stickers, butterfly clips, keychains, and more. And each bag also included an LHHS Reunion 2023 bottle opener. Score!
We sat and chatted for a while, talking about life, about the future, and about some of the people that were thee. It's crazy to me how much some of these people seemed to have aged. There was no one at the reunion that I recognized, but everyone has aged so much that even if someone I knew was there, I'm not sure if I would have known! The alumni had their yearbook photo on their name tags and the "plus-ones" did not, so it made it easy to tell at a glance if someone was a former student or a significant other, and there were definitely some former students here that look like thy aged 30+ years in the last 20. But I shouldn't judge - if it weren't for all my gray hair, I don't know if anyone would think I was nearly 40 myself.
People started grumbling after we'd been there for an hour and the food wasn't open yet, so some people got up and just started helping themselves. Pretty quickly, an announcement was made for people to grab their plates and line up, so we jumped at the chance. The options, from left to right were: barbecue meatballs (no clue where these were from, but they tasted like the kind I make at home, from Costco with Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce), jalapeno chicken dip (also not sure where this is from), chicken burritos (from Chico's Tacos), beef burritos (also from Chico's Tacos), beans and rice (hey, more Chico's Tacos), sandwiches (from Ed's Deli), and chips and salsa (probably from Chico's?). They had staff on the back side of the table serving people, and when asked what I wanted, I said "Uh.. Some of everything, I guess!". It was good, but probably would have been better if the food was warm. I guess that's what happens when the food just sits there for an hour.
We hung out for another hour or so, chatting, joking, and taking pictures at the photo booth. Unfortunately, we had to hit the road to get our babies in bed so we missed out on the raffle basket drawing, the opening up of the venue to non-ticketed attendants, and the after-reunion bar crawl. Oh well, maybe at the next one!