Reunited

I'm back from my self-imposed internet hiatus. Where do I start???

I had attended my 30 year high school reunion. Although it was great to see everyone who came, it also somewhat melancholy due to the knowledge that the land the high school is on will be sold and turned into another school, a condo complex or shopping center. It is truly an end of an era. There is a new campus, replacing the old one in another location, that is state-of-the-art, and by all accounts wonderful, but it does not have the same name as my old alma mater. There were several alumni who were not excited about the new name and quit donating money to the school when asked, simply because (as my brother put it) "that's not the school we went to." There are, however, walkways and courts with the "old" school name, and the school mascot is still the same. My high school graduating class was small, with about 99 graduates. We were fortunate to have about 30 attend the reunion with some spouses/significant others. We had the reunion in the old gym and we all laughed that we weren't getting busted for having alcohol on campus. One of my high school friends who I haven't seen since the 20 year reunion was there. It was as if time stood still and we had just seen each other yesterday by the lockers, well, except for having husbands, a house payment, kids, and reading glasses... Kathy twisted my arm and got me to do 3 tequila shots with her, only after one of our classmates bought a couple of bottles of Patron Silver tequila. I also had the chance to meet up with other long-lost classmates. I found out that one guy actually Q'ed for Boston a few years back but had to give up distance running because he broke his leg. Ouch!

Another classmate is a movie actor. Matthew Modine used to sit behind me in Mr. B's English class. He confirmed that he used to cheat off of my vocabulary tests in Senior year. Even though everyone was clamoring to get their photos with him, at least he did remember who I was and, yeah, I did get my photo with him and Kathy. Another classmate lives within a mile of me, and we plan to get together soon. I've exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses with many. I must admit, there was only one person I didn't really care to see, but that person was the first person who I made my pleasantries with so I could go on with the reunion and chat with others. For a group of us who are pushing 50, we seemed to all be healthy and doing just fine for ourselves, at least those who attended. The nice things about reunions now is that everyone is sincerely happy to be there and see former classmates. It's nothing like the 10 year reunion, where everyone seems like they're trying to show off their success. About 9 people in my graduating class have already died. As a class, we've decided to have reunions every 5 years instead of just every 10 years. I've actually volunteered my house for the next reunion. (Yikes!) I don't know if they'll take me up on my offer but it's incentive for me to get the house really fixed up by then. One thing I must mention about my class is even though there were groups like the jocks, cheerleaders, the rich kids, band geeks, party-ers, etc, we never let those "labels" interfere with getting to know each other now. We grew up, and thank goodness had lives and life experiences after high school. As a class we became closer than other classes. It was great to be able to give all of my classmates hugs.

I'm now working more weekly hours than I had anticipated. They do have ads out for techs, and have interviewed a few candidates, made offers, but these people aren't really looking for jobs. They're looking to get raises at their current places of employment OR they don't live up to their resumes. There's time and money wasted. I'm almost back to working full time again. This is not what I wanted to be doing right now, but I must admit the extra cash is handy.

A little over a week ago I was feeling somewhat sluggish, but just thought I was tired from work. I ended up getting a bad stomach flu. I can't remember the last time I had a flu like this last one. I couldn't even hold down water but forced myself to drink it just so I could have something in my system AND to not get dehydrated. It took a good 4 to 5 days to get that barfy feeling to go away and for food to taste like food again. Nothing was palatable. NOTHING tasted good, not even chocolate, not even water! The rotten part was calling in sick to work on a day I knew they were slammed with patients. With the 4th of July holiday and expecting a house-full of people, I had to get myself well. I did get better but I'm still exhausted. I just can't figure how someone could be incapacitated in bed for several days and still be tired...

The 4th of July happened. Hubbie and I ran in the the Coronado Annual 5k-15k. I was so tempted to not go, and that would have been a first for me because I still was not feeling strong, but I had to go. My brother flew down for the holiday and wanted to join us. This was THE SLOWEST 5k I have ever run. (28:15) I felt so weak, but I ran the whole way, tempted to walk, but I reminded myself that it was only a 5k, and that I could go home and go back to sleep for a couple of hours. By the way, my brother ran the 15k and finished in about 1:13:00 and change. After a returning home and getting in that 2 hours of sleep, it was time to get in gear for our party. The party began around 5 pm. We kept it relatively simple and grilled burgers, veggie burgers, and hot dogs, and all of the usual foods and beverages. It was kind of funny how just about everyone brought beer, though. We have enough beer leftover to have another party. The cool thing about where I live is that we could view several firework displays at the same time, even though a few were way off in the distance. The fireworks that we could view the best came from Sea World. Too bad the clouds rolled in, which muddled up some of the fireworks, but it was still fun to watch.

On the workout/running front, not much has happened. I've only run 3 or 4 times since the marathon, and that includes the 5k. I think I fit in 2 weight workouts before I came down with the flu. Even with the flu my weight stayed the same, and I suppose that's a good thing, but I feel like I've lost muscle tone. July will be all about get back on track and training for a half marathon scheduled for August.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. Back to blogging!

Peace