Department Of You Can’t Go Home Again
Perhaps not. But – with all apologies to novelist Thomas Wolfe, who perhaps didn’t realize this – you *can* go to your high school reunion, in your hometown.
Some of us may remember Wolfe’s admonition/advice, from discussing the themes of his novel Look Homeward, Angel in our high school or college literature classes:
The house, the town, the schools, even the people you remember from your youth and then left in your adulthood – they’ll never be the same, or make you feel the same, as you did when you were young. [1] They have all changed…as (of course), have you. Life moves forward; the only constant is change; the home you left behind can never be reclaimed…but it can constantly be remade in the present.
So yeah, well then. Dateline: Saturday October 4. My high school reunion.
Second semester Senior Class Officers: President AG, Secretary GR, and VEEP (yours truly) in the middle…apparently goosing AG (where is my other hand?).
Moiself’s pre-reunion fears: That I might be unable to stifle my kneejerk exclamation/observation upon entering the reunion venue ( “Holy déjà vu-ew – who are all these old/gray/fat/balding people – oh, that’s right, they are *us*!” )
Moiself’s Reality: “Who are all these happy, well-adjusted, warmhearted, engaging, kind, generous, witty people – oh, how lovely, they’re *us*!”
* * *
Department Of The Morning After The Reunion Reflections
This person is so warm, kind, funny, observant – why didn’t I know him/her better,
and/or hang around her/him more in high school?
Well, simply and most likely because it was a large high school (some 550+ in our senior class) and we were in different classes/activities/friend groups. Also, people change. Perhaps our respective personalities wouldn’t have been a good fit at the time, like the proverbial clashing combinations of oil and water, cats and dogs, pickled herring and crème fraîche…
Reunion activities included a tour of the high school campus Friday afternoon followed by dinner at a BBQ joint; the “official” reunion Saturday evening; an anyone-who’s still-in-town-and-would-like-to-do-so lunch meet-up at a downtown foodcourt mall on Sunday.
My flight arrived Friday eve, too late for the tour…which I’d no interest in, anyway. [2] I’d last checked out the campus seven years ago, when I went down to So Cal after my mother died. While it was nice to see that the school had some kind a sign up referencing one of its name-drop-worthy alums ( Diane Keaton…street? Sidewalk? Lamppost? Library book return drop? ), I only recognized one or two of the buildings, and felt no positive – or negative – connection. Which seemed logical, to moiself. After all, the school (to me) was the people, not the buildings. It just…wasn’t my school anymore. Such is The Nature of Things®.
I’d left much free time in my trip planning, by both design and circumstances ( I was going to meet up with family who, due to ongoing health issues, could not say when they were available until last minute). Thus it turned out that I had plenty o’ free time on Saturday before the reunion, and decided to check out some old hangouts: the Santa Ana Zoo, Norm’s restaurant, and Bowers Museum.
The Santa Ana Zoo – initially known as Prentice Park, was vastly different than I’d remembered, which was a good thing, as the zoo’s animal enclosures from decades ago were PETA-protest worthy. Although much-improved (and, like most if not all zoological parks today, very conservation-focused), the SAZ is still not an AZA member. [3] Even so, I had a good time observing the wildlife. And the animals were interesting, as well.
I had a nice interaction with this ocelot, who seemed to like looking at my hat.
Three of my visit’s highlights included what surrounded me after I’d ordered lunch at the zoo’s café and ate it on a table by the children’s play area/sandpit:
* A tiny boy, picking up pinecones under the trees by an outdoor eating area, toddled over to my table and solemnly presented me with one of his treasures. His mother was both proud of and astonished by her son’s generosity: “Oh, this is a first!” she gushed. “He’s so shy, he *never* approaches or even makes eye contact with strangers!” I reassured her, “Yes, well, I have that effect on men.”
* I overheard (then watched) two different parents – each trying to remain The Reasonable One ® despite their respective, escalating irritation – discussing what had happened and what then should happen re an altercation between their children. Dad A wanted Mom B’s son to apologize to Dad A’s toddler daughter, whom Mom B’s toddler son had pushed over in the sand pit by the swings. Mom B’s boy wandered off after the encounter (with Dad B chasing after him); Dad A was not pleased with Mom & Dad Bs’ reluctance to get their toddler to apologize. “Oh, he’s very young,” was their excuse, which Dad A countered with, “This is how they learn…“, adding, “Good luck with that,” when Mom B indicated that no apology would be forthcoming ( “They’re just kids; you don’t have to be snippy about it…” [4] )
* A family of four – two young men and two older women – sitting two tables away from me, played a game of Uno while they waited for their café food order. They conversed loud enough so that I didn’t have to eavesdrop to hear the some of the details. Moiself surmised that the two young men were, patiently and with good humor, “defending” their sister (yay!), who was somehow a concern for the two older women (who didn’t like the young woman’s…boyfriend? Job? General life direction?). Also of interest to moiself was how smoothly all four family members switched from Spanish to English and back again, sometimes two or three times within the same sentence. Not being bilingual moiself [5], I couldn’t help but wonder, what is the cause/trigger for them to switch?
And what a surprise the Bowers Museum turned out to be. One of the city’s few “cultural” attractions, I remembered Bowers as the bane of Santa Ana schoolchildren, who had to do the obligatory (read: eyeball-evisceratingly boring) field trip to Bowers at least once in their elementary school career. [6] While Bower’s original (and beautiful) Spanish mission-style main building was still there, the museum had expanded. I remembered a few of the old/permanent exhibits, but there were many more, including the featured World of the Terracotta Warriors: New Archaeological Discoveries in Shaanxi in the 21st Century, an impressive traveling exhibit I’d actually read about [7] before making the trip to SoCal.
Alas, I never made it to Norm’s (I got hungry and lunched at the zoo before heading to Bowers) I’d intended to send photographic proof of my being there to my older sister and her high school bestie, for whom Norm’s was a personal/in-joke, involving the less-than-stellar meals (with regard to the food’s taste and quality ) we’d had at that SoCal institution. The restaurant’s motto was, “Norm’s – We Never Close” ( which I appended with, “No Matter What The Health Department says!” ).
“Okay, so the food is meh, but you can get it 24/7!”
All of these (and more) trips involved moiself taking Uber or Lyft , as I’d decided to forgo the hassle of car rental (and navigation of SoCal freeways). And that was entertainment in its own right. Really and truly, as I told several friends and family members, for my next trip I might be satisfied just booking different Uber or Lyft rides all day, to…wherever. Moiself so enjoyed the conversations I had with the drivers, all of whom were from a variety of different backgrounds and life experiences and who were friendly and eager to share their stories with me and hear mine in return, and who included:
* Jose and Raymundo, both of whom are getting married next week! [8]
* John, who’s off to Colorado to visit his daughter, who is expecting baby#1 next month!
* Zheng, who lives at the beach even though he can’t afford to, but it’s the beach!
* Michael, who is retired ( “big mistake”) and misses having something to do!
* Abdul, who’s only getting $4 for this fare (so he says) and wants me to know! [9]
Not one of my Uber drivers (but just as friendly).
* * *
Department Of Priorities
Dateline: Sunday, 8:15 am, the 61 Hundred Bread bakery in Santa Ana. I arrive early as advised and snagged a couple of loaves of their blue masa sourdough ( “Best sourdough in the universe” ), one to take to my older sister and her husband when I visit them later this afternoon, and one to take back with on the plane, for MH, when I return to Oregon.
Later in the morning, as I’m doing some prepacking for tomorrow’s flight, I realize I don’t have enough room in my carryon luggage to add the bread, unless I make some sacrifices. And so, the sparkly black *bling* sneakers I wore to the reunion will stay behind in the hotel room. [10]
* * *
The reunion committee, as wonderful as they were for all the details they had to plan and juggle, got my name wrong on the preprinted name tag they provided for attendees. They had me as “Robyn Parnell Wagnell,” which was one surname too many. The latter surname belongs to MH’s and my offspring (and is part of my email address; thus, the nametag mixup, I’m assuming). Not to worry; due to the facts that…
(a) this has happened before with nametags; and
(b) I don’t like premade nametags,
…I’d brought along my own, custom name badge.
There is a story behind why I decided to have my own name tag made.
Story Dateline: many, many years ago; attending an event wherein people were provided with sharpie pens and those HELLO MY NAME IS stickers. I am gob smacked by the number of people (and by people I mean, men) who have written their professional credentials after their name, and who are introducing themselves to me ala:
Introduction:
“Hello, I’m Dr. Austin Tayshus.”
( Name tag reads: Austin Tayshus, Ph.D. or M.D. )
This event is neither a medical nor scientific conference, nor a professional gathering of any sort; it’s purely social. After the fifth or sixth time I encounter what moiself considers to be this boorish, status-signalling behavior, [11] I return to the party check-in table, grab a sharpie, and append my nametag to read, Robyn Parnell, N.a.D.
Which I have to explain to the next please-be-impressed-by-me Doc who introduces himself, then pretends, for a moment, that he recognizes my credential.
Pretensious Party Person:
“Hello, I’m Dr. Igor Maniac.
And I see you are……uh…’Na.D.” Yes, oh…Naturo…Allopathic….?
Moiself:
“Robyn Parnell; Not A Doctor.”
Just want to make sure there’s no confusion about that.
* * *
Freethinkers’ Thought Of The Week [12]
Harold: “You sure have a way with people.”
Maude: “Well, they’re my species.”
* * *
May you have entertaining encounters with ride service drivers;
May you make any sacrifice necessary to include the sourdough;
May you not need to have the Harold and Maude reference explained to you ; [13]
…and may the hijinks ensue.
Thanks for stopping by. Au Vendredi!
* * *
[1] And sometimes, that’s a really good thing.
[2] And as for the bbq joint meetup, by the time I’d Ubered to my hotel and checked in, I could have shown up later, but I checked out its menu on line. Yikes. Nothing a plant-eater such as moiself would be interested in eating. Or even smelling.
[3] I wonder if that’s due to it’s size, or quality of animal exhibits/care, or….?
[4] Oh, the joy of watching that interaction and thinking about how I don’t have to navigate that world anymore.
[5] Being able to curse, insult, and critique the bathroom supplies in several languages doesn’t count as language fluency…I think.
[6] Or whenever we had the city and/or county history/social studies blocks.
[7] But didn’t know it would be at the Bowers Museum.
[8] Not to each other.
[9] His sympathy trolling for a bigger tip – which he didn’t get – was obvious.
[10] Not to worry; they were quite inexpensive.
[11] It’s okay to be proud of your profession, and/or the education you received to get it, but other people also work hard and take pride in their professions sans trumpet-blaring – I couldn’t think of a reason why a person would do that at a social gathering, other than they wanted to accrue some kind of special treatment/elevated status points for being “a doctor” of…whatever.
[12] “free-think-er n. A person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. Freethinkers include atheists, agnostics and rationalists. No one can be a freethinker who demands conformity to a bible, creed, or messiah. To the freethinker, revelation and faith are invalid, and orthodoxy is no guarantee of truth.” Definition courtesy of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, ffrf.org
[13] And if you do, may the first thing you do after reading this is find some way to see that movie.
