40 years after grade school, Gen X friends reunited. Their shared childhood crush was the only guy there. |
In every group of friends, you need a pragmatist, an anything-goes-er, a salt-of-the-earther, and a historian. I’m the latter, which can be tough because people don’t always like cameras, tape recorders, or people with notepads in their faces. But if I didn’t stick to my guns, you wouldn’t be reading this.
Each archetype was represented in my group of childhood besties. This might be one of the reasons we have stayed close for decades. We have been linked by an invisible pink, glittered string that has threaded in and out of our lives as we played kickball, went roller-skating, had epiphanies, got/lost boyfriends, and, for most of us, moved out of Waco, Texas.
I don’t get back often, so when I had the chance, I texted in all caps: “PICK A DATE AND DON’T FLAKE. And while we’re at it,” I added, “let’s invite all of our school friends, 5th grade and below.” Come hell or high water, my elementary school buds and I were going to have our first-ever reunion in over 40 years. And it was gonna be out of control. (Well, within reason of course.)
It was as Gen X as it gets. Half-baked plans cemented on a hot day in May. Invites going out two weeks—and in some cases one day—before a location was chosen. My only caveat was the bar must be ‘super divey’ and have extremely unhealthy fried food. We settled on Hemingway’s Watering Hole, which was more upscale than expected. (And truly delicious.)
Most of us are only linked through social media, other than our core group. So we took a stab with Facebook messages like, “So, I don’t know........