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i am: 40...a capricorn / moon in pisces / libra rising...an old soul with a young spirit...older than i look...contemplating my 3rd tattoo...NOT a web designer...a lesbian...working things out with the g.f....a native iowan...a graduate of cornell college and ohio state...a critical reader and thinker...really rather shy...agnostic...an ardent feminist...a bleeding-heart liberal...a pacifist...and so not your average white grrl...
e-mail me
feeling generous? *grin*
Who Links Here
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July 25, 2003
reunionsearlier this week, our mailman delivered the photo and booklet from my class reunion, held in june. i had had no desire whatsoever to actually attend, but as soon as i saw that envelope with the reunion committee chair's return address, i tore into it as if it held gold, rather than an 8x10 of a bunch of people i don't know anymore and a list of who they married, their kids' names and ages, and what they've been doing for the last 20 years.
as i was studying the photograph and matching faces to names on the attached list, s was thumbing through the booklet. one thing she noticed was how few people went to college, compared with her graduating class (her 10th reunion was a few years ago). i'd probably chalk that up to two factors: 1) the fact that more high school graduates were probably headed for college in 1990 than in 1983, given how the job market increasingly treats an undergraduate degree as it did a high school diploma not too many years ago; and 2) the fact that s went to a large urban high school, while i attended a consolidated school in a small town, with kids from farms and even smaller towns as far as 25 miles away.
when i spotted a particular person in the photo, i got all happy. i hadn't thought about robert in years, but i always liked him. he was very sweet, but never dated anyone (at least not that we knew about) and was always teased by the other guys for that. we loved him, tho. it was always "the girls" and robert at all the parties. on prom night my senior year—after i was dumped and dateless—we all went to a keg party in a cornfield, and i remember robert pulling me up after i'd fallen while trying to navigate the deep, roughly plowed furrows.
so anyway, i said to s, "hey, look up robert ______! see what he's doing!" he looked all happy and smiling and exactly like he looked at graduation, 20 years ago. she flipped thru the pages and said nonchalantly, "oh, he's gay." i screamed, "YAY, ROBERT ______! YAAAAAAAAAY!!!" listing "mr. todd ______" as his spouse, he also mentioned a dog named barney and a career as a flight attendant and restaurant owner. *grin*
yes, perusing the booklet this week has been interesting. of the 110 classmates who responded with information about themselves (out of a class of ~180):* 4 are deceased (including a friend of mine, a week before graduation)
* 3 have doctoral degrees (pharmacy, computer science, speech & hearing science)
* 1 is an m.d. (a co-valedictorian; in hawaii, no less)
* 9 have master's degrees (chemical engineering, industrial engineering, divinity, music, curriculum & instruction, horticulture & agricultural education...and me, in english)
* 25 have bachelor's degrees (most in business)
* 28 have associate's degrees (most in business or from tech schools)
* 9 are farmers (or are married to farmers)
* 5 are cosmetologists
* 5 have served or now serve in the military
* 3 are registered nurses
* 3 are pastors
* 1 is an fbi agent
* 1 is an opera singer
* 80 stayed in or moved back to iowa
*41 stayed or moved back to the area (within a 25-mile radius)
* 13 live in states not contiguous to iowa (mostly arizona and texas)
* 1 lives overseas (germany)
* 10 have children named "brandon" or "tyler" (one has one of each)
* 2 listed same-sex spouses (robert and me)
* 2 are (female) teachers and phys ed coaches with conspicuously blank "spouse" and "family" sections (both were jocks in high school...one was named to a big ten "all 1980s" sports team, and the other my friend, who was rumored, 21 years ago, to have been found late at night, in a car with the [female] basketball and softball coach, half naked....) now, i sort-of wish that i'd gone to the reunion. i could still go to my other one, but...i'm just not feeling it like i was a few months ago. perhaps in another 5 or 10 years, i'll be ready.
4:22 PM
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