Does anybody read these?

A trip down memory lane...

A priest stopped by my friend Rosalie's blog today.

No, seriously. This isn't a bad priest joke. And I do have a point.

The priest was a Jesuit. I think he was from the Philipines. He's a blogger. Shouldn't more Jesuits blog. Actually after visiting Fr. Jeff's blog, I found out LOTS of Jesuits do blog. Of course, had I become a Pauline, I'd have been a blogging Pauline I'm sure. I doubt I'd be talking about "the first-date/second-base rule" if I were a blogging nun though.

Anyhow, when you go to a Catholic high school, you end up having friends who are priests. I don't think I have any friends who are nuns. (Krista, where are you? Can you think of anyone who became a nun?) Well, that's a lie. I have friends who are nuns, mostly the nuns who taught me in school that I've kept in touch with, but none of my friends from school became nuns. I'm sure if any of them read the nun story the other day, they are still laughing. Me, a nun? OK, I still laugh. I'm surprised Krista didn't leave any notes on that one!

OK, Laura back on track. Your friends who are priests.

Oh yes, my friend Kevin Russeau is a Brother of the Sacred Heart (the Notre Dame brothers). When Kevin got ordained, I sent him a card and he sent me a nice note and some photographs from his first parish assignment. That was very cool.

Several years ago, I heard through the grapevine that Brad Flint was becoming a priest. Brad was very handsome, the star football player and an overall great guy. And folks wonder why we have a problem with a priest shortage because I actually heard what a "waste" it was for such a great guy to become a priest. Personally, that's the kind of person that we want to join the priesthood, but that's a whole 'nother blog.

Well, when I saw Fr. Jeff, SJ, post on Rosalie's blog, I remembered how much I love the Jesuits. Seriously, when I have kids, they are all going to be educated by Jesuits. And for some reason, I thought that Brad Flint was a Jesuit.

But he wasn't. He was a De La Salle brother. And Brad passed away last summer. I do believe that the monastery where he was in the novitiate was not too far from where my friend Toma lives. Brad was an athlete, and found that he could have private time with God on his vigorous bike rides. So, I know during that one when he missed the curve and went home to God that he was talking to Him the whole way up.

If I'd been in Detroit, I'd have paid my respects. Unfortunately, I was here at the time. Brad was hardly my best bud, but I did always think that he was a nice guy. But now I'm thinking about high school. About the people who were my friends. About how much I love my high school. There were times that high school was pure hell, but it wasn't because of the school. Every school has kids that would be better suited to a different type of educational environment, and ours was no different.

I don't really keep in touch with anyone from high school. My best friend from high school, Gwen, and I try to keep in touch, and did a significantly better job when I was still in Michigan. Krista and I are starting to get caught up after having not seen each other probably four or five years. I found Kurt on myspace too, and I really need to call him and catch up.

About a year and a half ago, Gwen and I got the brilliant idea to go to our 10-year reunion. Frankly, she owed me after I went to SMA Alumnae Day in May because she told me that she was going. And I was the only person from our class and I was the youngest person there. They thought it'd be fun to put me with the OLDEST graduate who was like 90 years old and couldn't hear a word I said. The highlight was when the woman doing the seating says, "You can sit next to Lorie. She's close to your age." Lorie was my friend Katie's mom. No joke. My friends' moms are NOT close to my age. Except for my friends in my Sunday School class, who are 3-5 years old.

Anyhow, fall of 2004, Gwennie and I headed down to Monroe and had an absolute blast for the 10-year reunion. The first night we were supposed to meet downtown and go to drinks before the game. But it was pouring down rain so everyone just stayed at the bar and drank heavily. It was great. So much fun we decided to come back the next night for the actual fancy, schmancy dinner.

The absolute best part of the 10-year reunion was that the cliques from high school were gone. Folks marveled over it at dinner. The boundaries were gone. We were just graduates of St. Mary Catholic Central High School. Several folks commented about how they talked to people at dinner that they'd honestly NEVER talked to in 4 years of school -- and they enjoyed it. Elise, Gwen and Drew bonded over the tales of the recently divorced. I was very proud that St. Pat's represented, and almost all my classmates since I was six years old made it to the reunion. It was so much fun that I actually volunteered to plan our 15-year-reunion. I guess I am going to have to start thinking about that in 2 years, eh?

I worried so much about not being married, not having my dream job or any big awards for my work. I wasn't what I thought I'd be at 10 years, but you know what? I'm not that bad off either. We all did very well with our lives in one way or another. Some folks that you never expected to be housewives are. Others that you expected to be at home raising a half-dozen kids are working in high-profile jobs with no thoughts of slowing down.

There was only one person who was still living in the past. One person who refused to put the cliques aside. Of course what do you expect when someone's name is -- no shit -- Buffy. We had seen her at the bar Friday night and she ignored us. In fact, she ignored our whole freaking class. The next night, she came to the dinner and she didn't really talk to anyone because none of her high school friends were there and she didn't see the point in belittling herself to talk to the "little people" who were in attendance. She almost went into convulsions when she looked and saw her husband talking to a girl who was very easily in the top 3 of the least popular people in our class. I just couldn't help but think why you would even come if you had no intentions of showing up with a good attitude. Why waste your time? It was sad.

Afterwards, we all went to another bar and just let go and had fun. A few other folks who didn't come to dinner made it to the bar and we had a lot of fun. And one girl who really actually couldn't stand me in high school acted like I was her best friend. Maybe we all should've drunk more heavily in high school. Or at least maybe she should've. I held my own.

Maybe this weekend I'll whip out the contact list I compiled from the last reunion (wasn't I just Polly Joiner?!) and see if I can track folks down. It'd be kind of nice. Let everyone know what I'm doing and see what they are up to. And most importantly, con someone who lives close enough to Monroe (I'm thinking Gwennie) to help me plan the next one, since I'll be living in Music City USA. Or at least I think. Heck, if you go by my current record, I could move 2 or 3 times before then!

posted by Laura at 10:34 PM