Last weekend, I went to my 55 year high school reunion. I attended Manatee High School in Bradenton. The last one I attended was the 20 year reunion and lost interest after that. It was the same people whom I didn’t really know in high school. As I get older, memories become more important and help me better understand my life’s arc. In case it isn’t obvious, I was a little nerdy then, all of 100 pounds, barely 5’4” with coke bottle glasses. My activities were limited to boy scouts and band. I played french horn. One thing I remember is that I was never bullied and all of the popular kids, especially the girls, were all nice and friendly with me. My favorite classes were band and French. I don’t remember seeing anybody from band at the reunion but about half of the people from our French class of about 15 students were there.

Our most famous alumni is Henry Lawrence, offensive lineman for the Oakland Raiders from 1974 through 1986, two time Pro-bowler and three time Super Bowl Champion (that’s me in the upper left corner). There is a real nice article about him on SI.com.

At the end of the evening, they passed out awards for various achievements like who traveled the furthest to attend and who had the most great grand kids. The last award was for Running on Fumes. It was for who had the oldest vehicle. I didn’t hear the description at first but realized what is for as they were getting ready to give it to Karen who has a 1952 MF-TF. Once I realized what was happening, I started waving my arms and yelling “I have a 1950 Ford”. They ignored me but the ladies tending bar started yelling with me which finally resulted in me receiving the highly coveted, last award of the evening. It was a fun time and a great job by Mac Aldrich and his crew.