'64 or '69
Hotel receptionist: Are you here for one of the reunions?
D&A: Yes!
Hotel receptionist: The ’64 reunion or ’69?
D&A: How old do you think we are?
Hotel receptionist: Old?!
Whatever.
We are here for Dan’s 30th high school reunion weekend bash, but since few ever leave Upper Arlington — UA to the locals — there’s a whole lot of “remember in elementary school…” chatter. The festivities include an informal gathering in a dive bar with sticky floors, and a formal event at a different dive bar with sticky floors. Really people?
Reunion Guess the point is to catch up, and that, Dan does. He hops around from person to person, reminiscing on stories of the past and exchanging news of the present. Assana rotates thru “Nice to meet you too!”, “Yes, he sure did get married!” and “That’s funny.” Turns out Dan sat on a lot of kids when they were young. Weirdo.
Parade Sandwiched between the two bar events is UA’s 4th of July parade, which appears to be the most important holiday in UA… probably bigger than xmas! So much so that people put dibs on their spots on the parade route starting a week in advance… using lawn chairs! And no, no one touches anyone’s chair, which makes Assana really want to rearrange them! She doesn’t, but keeps thinking this parade better be great!
Assana’s verdict? Three observations: everyone appears to be blond, blue eyed with 3 children who are a year part. There are so many kids “things” that one wonders if these folks remember what the day celebrates! And finally, that the class of ’64’s float kicks the class of ’84’s ass!
George One of the trip's highlights, at least for Assana, is Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, at the original store! Yumm… Another fun surprise is that George makes the trip up to spend a bit of time with us. Suzanne and Lohren follow the next day. Perhaps they are up in Ohio for other reasons, but we’d like to think it is to see us! It is always nice to catch up with George. And Lohren impresses us more with each visit. Even Gregor and Jamie are impressed with the mature young lady that she is becoming. Keep it up Lohren!
Stuck With D&A We both agree that the best thing about the trip is the Gillioms. We pretty much spend the entire weekend with them, and we don’t care if we wear out our welcome! The boys, Garrett and Griffin, have grown many inches since the last time we saw them at our wedding, but Unkie Dan is still unkie Dan! The four boys play hours of video games and ping pong. We all attend the annual block party, go to 4th parade and fireworks, walk around the fields around their neighborhood and go to Jeni’s for ice cream.
50 We really wish they lived in CA so we could hang out with them more often. Meanwhile, while we are at it, we plan our next gathering with the Gillioms: next July for Gregor’s big Five-O birthday. Can’t wait!
