I swear to God above that this will absolutely be the last Reunion entry. And thus I swear.

So, after I saw the 500 pictures of myself and bought the 500 pictures of myself, I took myself over to the Scholarshop to buy me a metric ton of clothing items emblazoned with the word "Interlochen" in great big letters.

The Scholarshop used to be the Whippy Dip in my time (the Melody Freeze in the summer), which sold ice cream and bagels and things, and had places to sit inside, but this is the one change that I don't see as a betrayal, but as an improvement, as it is not only a gift shop where you can get clothing items, but there is also music for sale and dance clothes and things that Young Artists at Work need. Not to mention candy and soda and important things like that. And it's still the Melody Freeze in summer, so that's okay.

They are really smart over there with the sweatshirt and t-shirt designs, in that they make new ones every year, so even if you already have several (including the one from when I actually attended the school) you are overcome with the desire for more more more.

Okay, maybe it's just me.

This year, though, they have had the brilliant notion to include majors in some of the designs, so I got a green baseball cap and a black sweatshirt that say "Interlochen--Theatre" on them. Not that I'm a big geek whose entire self-image is caught up in where I went to high school or anything. I also got an orange t-shirt and a blue hoody. Wait, maybe I am...

I also am turning into my mother, horrifying though that might be to contemplate, but they were having some trouble with their credit card machine, and as we were waiting, I spied the 1982 yearbook, my yearbook, on a table, so I picked it up and opened it to the page with my senior picture on it, and took it to the counter girls and said "That's me!", just like my Mom does at video stores with the box for To Catch a Thief.

Embarrassing, but it really is a great senior picture. I must scan it in sometime.

Afterwards I had several hours to kill before going to the airport, but it was rainy and cold and there was certainly no reason to be outside, so I went back to the lodge to really relax for the first time the entire weekend.

So I lay down on my bed and started writing an entry and watched ice skating and then The Sure Thing, an excellent way to spend an afternoon, by me.

At one point, I looked up and it was suddenly a gorgeous day! I rubbed my eyes in shock, then grabbed my camera and sprinted outside, because I wanted my damn beautiful Michigan autumn shots, and now I could finally get them.

Our lodge was right on the water, so I opened the sliding glass door and ran down like the wind, because with the way that the weather was changing every forty seconds, meandering could do nobody any good.

I finished half a roll of bw and then shot a roll of colour. Laura and John and Paul and George came down from Cool People Central and joined me for a bit. They were staying another day, presumably because they work places that actually give you Columbus Day off.

For a second or so, I wished that I could stay another day as well...but really that would only be postponing the inevitable trip back to reality. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm all for as little reality as is necessary.

Finally, it was 5.30p and the girl crotchie was there to pick me up and take me to the airport. Along with, sitting in the front seat, the Man Who Might or Might Not Be Terry!

I got in, sat behind him, and we started chatting. And I knew that it was him. He may have changed, he may look different than he did when he was 16 and I got frostbite one night standing hip deep in snow watching him play the piano in one of the practice rooms in HU-5, but by golly, his voice was exactly the same. Not to mention the fact that we were discussing all of these mutual friends, but just in case I said,

"Um, who exactly are you?"
"O, I'm Terry..."
"I thought so, but I wanted to make completely certain before I called you Terry and you weren't Terry! I had the biggest crush on you freshman year, and you started dating Alexandra and broke my heart."
"That was right after my girlfriend from the year before had broke up with me and broke my heart!"
"I really have to tell you something, you know those comedy tapes that you and Rob used to make? There is a line from one of them that I have been saying for the last 22 years."
"And that line is...?"
" 'O m'God, m'leg's on FIRE!!' "
"Crisp Man, that was Crisp Man!" (explaining to the crotchie) "It was a superhero we invented, a guy that walked around setting people on fire just by touching them."
"And what was that thing where you would put a pillowcase and pillow over your head?"
"The Guggenheims! There was the White Guggenheim, who was good, and the Blue Guggenheim who was evil. And the Tan Guggenheim, because those were the colour of pillowcases that we had. We were so obscure."
"That's the one that I remember, your brown pillowcase."
"You were at the bonfire, weren't you?"
"Yeah, I was there for a bit."
"That was Rob's and my idea, you know, and everyone thought we were crazy, but it turned out really well, didn't it?"
"Of course it did, you are the Cool People!"

So we got to the airport and I went upstairs to my gate, expecting to see Sally Ann, who is on the same flight, but there was Robert as well!

It seems that even though he had a ticket in his hand for the afternoon flight, he wasn't on the list, so they put him on standby, but to no avail, so he had been sitting in the Traverse City airport for about four or five hours, watching the cloud and weather show out the window.

"Man, I don't know if I've ever seen anything worse than your travel karma this weekend!"
"Tell me about it!"

He did, however, get on mine and Sally Ann's flight and we all sat in reasonable proximity. I was right behind Sally, and because we were talking, I started chatting with the cute guy next to me, which was a first for me, practically, as the last thing I ever do is talk to people on planes.

At O'Hare, we had to go in three different directions, but Sally and I had lots of time, so we decided to grab some dinner rather than wait for the sumptuous feat awaiting us in an hour. Go figure. We're wacky that way.

Sally's doing really well in LA, making a living doing voiceovers for TV and movies, a real working actor. It's nice to hear that it's possible from an actor of my generation, but it probably never will with me, because I have no oomph, I expect everything to come to me.

We were having a great time, and I checked my watch but there was still fifty minutes until my flight at 8.25p. Some time later I checked again, and there were still fifty minutes.

"Shit! My watch has stopped! What time is it!"
(a guy at a neighbouring table) "8.15p."
"Holy mother fucker!"
"I'll take care of the check, go go go!"

And like the wind I ran, if the wind were dragging a 900lb carry-on bag, thinking that if I missed my plane then it wouldn't only be Robert with the bad travel karma, but they had only just started boarding, so all was well. And the flight wasn't full, so I ended up having my own row all the way home.

And thus ends, at long last, the story of my reunion. My 18th reunion, let me stress, not 20! Not 20 one little bit.

It didn't go exactly as expected, and there were certainly plenty of people whom I would have loved to see who did not come, and a little less snow and cold would have been nice, but on the other hand I was able to spend time with Brad and Andi for the first time since 1980, and I have an adventure with Robert, and I hung out with people that I didn't know well at school, like David the Forgotten and Sally Ann and John.

And I got to spend time at my school, my home, the home of my heart. No matter how long I am away, it doesn't matter a bit, because this is the place where I started learning to be myself. It wouldn't matter if there weren't a single person left there that I knew, the walls and the buildings and the air and the earth remember me, remember who I was and see who I am.

I don't think that I am disappointing.

Tony, me, looking like Lucy Van Pelt, Scott, Brad, Robert behind, by John Hegner.

Bacchanalia at the Rob and Terry's campfire, by John Hegner.

Today's horoscope:
Family goals are in focus and inflated egos could complicate the process. Avoid opinions and stick to facts.

One year ago today:
Well, a couple of weeks ago I was in the post office here in New York and I was accosted by a strange man who turned out to be my best friend from sophomore year, Brad DePlanche.

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Last Updated Sun 15 October 02:13:09 2000