NH
Originally uploaded by tjdee

The reunion could have been a disaster. My ridiculous decision to shave despite having forgotten shaving creme could have screwed me big time. If I had been the only guy to go the semi-casual route, I would've felt like a tool. Frenemies could have shown up with attitude, holding grudges. And while my friendship with Alli, the organizer, gave me access to the attendee list, anyone could have shown up at the last minute while I was manning the registration table.

But everything was pretty great. The open bar helped keep conversation loose, I think. Some last-minute attendees were welcome surprises. Sitting at the welcome table was more fun than awkward. Reconnecting with people I hadn't seen since high school and those I had lost touch with after a couple of years was equally cool.

Mad props to Alli for tracking down everyone and for some creative touches at the event: Attaching 10-year-old photos to balloons was genius. Playing Romy and Michelle at the welcome table was equally clever. And planning the next morning's brunch at the hotel was perfect.

Thankfully not everything was as perfect. There was just enough drama to keep things interesting - some vomiting at the afterparty, a single slightly scandalous hookup and some damage to the suite - but not enough to overshadow the focus of the event.

I still can't quite wrap my head around the idea that more than 10 years have passed since graduation. On my last night in NYC, Alli, Lauren and I stayed up 'til 3 a.m., in part because we popped in a DVD a classmate had passed along that surprisingly contained about an hour's worth of footage from our last day of high school. This guy, Paul, had taped everything, from the pledge of allegiance to my A.P. English class to lunch (where he asked people what they wanted to be doing in 10 years) to the crazy bomb scare we had that day (one of several fakies phoned in by a weirdo that nearly caused the cancellation of our ceremony) to senior choir members practicing our graduation song. It was pretty boring stuff, objectively, but utterly fascinating to us.

Now back to Facebook, with which I'm addicted all over again thanks to the reunion.