You Bleed, You Learn
Apr. 11th, 2003 05:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpI just went to the pharmacy to pick up Jennifer's prescription for her. How "coupled" do I feel right now? Yikes.
Today I got a letter from my friend Jeff. Jeff and I knew each other in high school. We started corresponding by letter-writing immediately after graduation. From the 10-year reunion announcements I've been receiving, it's been just about ten years since we started. We're still writing. On a monthly basis, give or take. Phenomenal.
Over Christmas, I got the privilege of meeting my Jeff's charming wife Melissa. He'd been talking her up and down in letters for years, and we just never connected to have a meeting. We finally got our chance last December. She is an amazing woman - I would expect no less from him, a certifiable "catch." He is everything one would look for in a partner: sweet, funny, attractive, kind, considerate, supportive, proud, hard-working... I could go on and on and on. I enjoyed myself immensely with them (we went to dinner and then bought Powerball tickets), as if we hung out all the time for years. Did I mention the part where she's a great girl?
Anyway, the letter. He asks me if I'm attending the reunion. He tells me: Speaking of Mount, will you be going to the reunion? I'm leaning toward perhaps, but Melis has come outright and said she won't go unless you do... no pressure. If you go, you go. If you don't, you don't. But, part of me would like to see some of the old gang... Besides, they say your ten-year is the most popular and the most common one to go to... right? But let me know if you're going, for my wife's sake... HA HA! They are the coolest people ever!
So then I got to thinking...
Ten years. Usually, my response to anything reunion-related is "Wow, won't it be funny when Ms. 'Most Likely To Succeed' turns out to be a Midwestern heathen lesbian divorcee who makes less than $30K a year?" But I don't know, maybe it's the warm weather and the sunshine, but I'm thinking more positively this evening. Much.
We're doing it. We're all /really/ doing it. From Natalie, who is talking about eloping with her long-time boyfriend in Florida... to Monique, a therapist in Chicago who just moved in with her boyfriend... to Laurie, recently come out, living with her girlfriend in our hometown, cutting hair... to Chris, just deployed to Iraq while his wife waits pregnant in Germany... to Jessica and Mark, married last year, now living in Arizona... to Jeff, living with one of the coolest girls ever, dominating the world of bank telling. We've all made it. We're out there, somewhere, living our lives. We're success stories. I'm no exception.
Yeah, maybe I live in the Midwest, but I have a really good job and an apartment I can actually afford with money to spare. And I have great friends here, and a neighborhood I love. And sure, maybe I got divorced (gah, it seems like it happened to someone else), but that meant I got to stop living a lie, living someone else's life - and it means my stress level went way down and my life satisfaction went way up. And I probably should have always been 'Most Likely To Come Out' instead, anyway. And maybe I /do/ make less than $30K a year, but I get all my bills paid, and can afford to take a girl out, and can goof off and have fun and buy toys and feed my cats. But the bottom line is that I'm more successful than a majority of this country's population, let alone my high school, because I'm happy. I have no regrets and no ill will and no inner turmoil and no strife (gonads?) and no deep sorrows and no 'what if?'s and no take-backs. I'm in love with an amazing woman who for some reason finds it in her heart to love me back, and maybe now I don't mind saying that we're building something really special over here, in the Midwest, in the wake of divorce, in our low-paying jobs.
I thought about all of the things I could say at my reunion (because of course I have to go, I won't let Laurie have to come out without support, and besides, Melissa needs to come!) and none of them are more indicative of success than my Jennifer. What we have, boys and girls, is really, /really/ special, and (shhh!) I think maybe we're going to make something of it.
So, the reunion. I can't wait to see what everyone is up to. And I can't wait to share my successes with the Mount St. Charles Academy Class of 1993.
Today I got a letter from my friend Jeff. Jeff and I knew each other in high school. We started corresponding by letter-writing immediately after graduation. From the 10-year reunion announcements I've been receiving, it's been just about ten years since we started. We're still writing. On a monthly basis, give or take. Phenomenal.
Over Christmas, I got the privilege of meeting my Jeff's charming wife Melissa. He'd been talking her up and down in letters for years, and we just never connected to have a meeting. We finally got our chance last December. She is an amazing woman - I would expect no less from him, a certifiable "catch." He is everything one would look for in a partner: sweet, funny, attractive, kind, considerate, supportive, proud, hard-working... I could go on and on and on. I enjoyed myself immensely with them (we went to dinner and then bought Powerball tickets), as if we hung out all the time for years. Did I mention the part where she's a great girl?
Anyway, the letter. He asks me if I'm attending the reunion. He tells me: Speaking of Mount, will you be going to the reunion? I'm leaning toward perhaps, but Melis has come outright and said she won't go unless you do... no pressure. If you go, you go. If you don't, you don't. But, part of me would like to see some of the old gang... Besides, they say your ten-year is the most popular and the most common one to go to... right? But let me know if you're going, for my wife's sake... HA HA! They are the coolest people ever!
So then I got to thinking...
Ten years. Usually, my response to anything reunion-related is "Wow, won't it be funny when Ms. 'Most Likely To Succeed' turns out to be a Midwestern heathen lesbian divorcee who makes less than $30K a year?" But I don't know, maybe it's the warm weather and the sunshine, but I'm thinking more positively this evening. Much.
We're doing it. We're all /really/ doing it. From Natalie, who is talking about eloping with her long-time boyfriend in Florida... to Monique, a therapist in Chicago who just moved in with her boyfriend... to Laurie, recently come out, living with her girlfriend in our hometown, cutting hair... to Chris, just deployed to Iraq while his wife waits pregnant in Germany... to Jessica and Mark, married last year, now living in Arizona... to Jeff, living with one of the coolest girls ever, dominating the world of bank telling. We've all made it. We're out there, somewhere, living our lives. We're success stories. I'm no exception.
Yeah, maybe I live in the Midwest, but I have a really good job and an apartment I can actually afford with money to spare. And I have great friends here, and a neighborhood I love. And sure, maybe I got divorced (gah, it seems like it happened to someone else), but that meant I got to stop living a lie, living someone else's life - and it means my stress level went way down and my life satisfaction went way up. And I probably should have always been 'Most Likely To Come Out' instead, anyway. And maybe I /do/ make less than $30K a year, but I get all my bills paid, and can afford to take a girl out, and can goof off and have fun and buy toys and feed my cats. But the bottom line is that I'm more successful than a majority of this country's population, let alone my high school, because I'm happy. I have no regrets and no ill will and no inner turmoil and no strife (gonads?) and no deep sorrows and no 'what if?'s and no take-backs. I'm in love with an amazing woman who for some reason finds it in her heart to love me back, and maybe now I don't mind saying that we're building something really special over here, in the Midwest, in the wake of divorce, in our low-paying jobs.
I thought about all of the things I could say at my reunion (because of course I have to go, I won't let Laurie have to come out without support, and besides, Melissa needs to come!) and none of them are more indicative of success than my Jennifer. What we have, boys and girls, is really, /really/ special, and (shhh!) I think maybe we're going to make something of it.
So, the reunion. I can't wait to see what everyone is up to. And I can't wait to share my successes with the Mount St. Charles Academy Class of 1993.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 03:32 pm (UTC)I didn't have a bad time, but I have no idea how I talked myself into it.
You are in somewhat better shape. You'll do fine. :)
[*]
<-- former valedictorian
Date: 2003-04-11 06:38 pm (UTC)YEAH!
no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 04:00 pm (UTC)There a A LOT worse places to live in this country than Columbus, Ohio.
Go get 'em at that reunion :)
no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 07:20 pm (UTC)Oh, I totally agree. BUT, I'm a New England girl, and "the Midwest" is like the worst place imaginable. That's how we're brought up! :)
Re:
Date: 2003-04-11 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-12 10:57 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-04-12 11:03 am (UTC)The scioto river doesn't cut it.
Lake Erie does, but that's two hours away.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-12 09:08 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-04-13 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-14 07:20 am (UTC)(I'm an ocean snob.)
no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 09:35 pm (UTC)For example.
Re:
Date: 2003-04-12 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-12 10:57 am (UTC)Almost called you to go out drinking last night.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 04:01 pm (UTC)You should go. If nothing else, tell everybody you're a professional killer.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 08:22 pm (UTC)Speaking of JC, I just got Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 04:38 pm (UTC)You said you needed time, you had time.
Date: 2003-04-11 07:23 pm (UTC)I think that we should have broken up when we almost did in 1996. But we didn't. Had we broken up then, we never would have lasted as long. But then I had a health crisis after that, and he really helped me out and it brought us closer together...
As for lack of relationships, eh... There hasn't been much time where I /haven't/ been involved with someone in one way or another, but there have been very few SERIOUS ones.
(And I'm not partnered yet. You'll scare the crap out of me! *grin*)
Re: You said you needed time, you had time.
Date: 2003-04-11 07:27 pm (UTC)Re: You said you needed time, you had time.
Date: 2003-04-11 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-11 05:18 pm (UTC)Dude.
Date: 2003-04-11 06:40 pm (UTC)Re: Dude.
Date: 2003-04-11 06:44 pm (UTC)Re: Dude.
Date: 2003-04-11 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-12 05:15 am (UTC)I wanted to do my ten year, and they didn't bother to have one. So have some fun for me, too!
no subject
Date: 2003-04-12 10:58 am (UTC)How could they not have one?
no subject
Date: 2003-04-16 09:49 am (UTC)no subject
Re:
Date: 2003-04-18 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 07:05 am (UTC)*smooch*
Re:
Date: 2003-04-18 07:26 am (UTC)I didn't know until last week that we get Good Friday off here in Cape Girardeau (an unexpected benefit of life in the bible belt?) so I'm actually chillin in Columbia, nothin to do until 1:30. Life is good.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-18 07:32 am (UTC)