Reunion photographs

Follow this link to view the photographs of our twenty year reunion.  You can order prints directly from phanfare, and the site also allows high resolution downloads.  We have a one year membership and can add many more pictures.

Please send me your favorite pictures from the weekend to share with the group and to add to our class archive.

One more thing - I should probably let  you in on the password - wsk1991.

Happy viewing!

Can you even stand it?

Rebecca and I need a day or two to get the photo sharing website ready to roll.   I wanted to give you a little preview...the pictures are gorgeous...

Back to our regularly scheduled lives?

Hello, dear friends.  I am borrowing today's title from a Facebook post by Tasnima.  I trust you are all well - both safe and sound after a whirlwind weekend.  I still have so many conversations flying around in my brain that I keep shaking my head to clear it.  Are you tired?  I am tired.  And full of love and memories and wishes for more time with each of you.

I may have mentioned that I scored higher than Carla on our Scarlet Letter exam in Mr. Heiser's class.  If you hadn't heard yet, now you know.  Dana was afraid to even get near his door.  Her memories of this class weren't as happy as mine. 

There will be much to say and report, but not today.  I have to settle our bills.  Boring.  But people expect to get paid, so there is that.

It will be a week or so before the photos get to us from Thelen and are then uploaded.  I do have a quick taste for those of you that absolutely cannot wait.  I apologize for the resolution and for the table.  Dagnabbit!  Thelen was working with difficult lighting due to the club set-up and the storm.  I had hoped to take this shot on the back stairs, but at least we all stayed dry.  Have you ever seen so many beautiful people?  So many genuine smiles?

And we will also work on uploading our original class video to an accessible site.  Drew will help me with that as soon as I send it to him.  I'm on it.  I promise.

Our tour group in front of the Middle School - one of the only places that looked very familiar. Same steps as graduation photo but I think they did some work on the awning.

Details

Friday - I can't say for sure when the Pfeifer 4 will arrive at Webb.  But Helen Bruner, Alumni Coordinator, already has a list of classmates who paid for BBQ.  Check in with Helen, get a name tag and some hog and get that party started.  Your name tag will get you into the game for free.  I think Helen has name tags for our entire class, so even if you didn't reserve dinner, you can still wear a pre-made fancy name tag.  But if I am wrong, you can still talk your way in FOR FREE.  All Alumni (and fam) get into the football game free.

Saturday - I have asked (okay, maybe I did a little passive-aggressive manipulation using our stellar attendance as a bargaining tool) for the bookstore to be open during the lunch hour.  And, fingers crossed, it shall.  Someday it will be fall, and I would like a Webb sweatshirt to wear when I am chilly.  And maybe something for the girls.  Please come shop.  Tours depart from the flag pole beginning at 10:00 and lunch is at noon.

I don't really follow sports, but I am aware that UT plays in the first football game of the season on Saturday night.

Sunday - 

Fashion: Many folks have asked me what to wear.  Here's what I know so far - I will probably wear a LBD or a skirt and top combo.  I will start the night in heels, but I can't say how long they will last.  Hubs will be coming casual; maybe jeans and a pressed shirt.  I know Gettsyvue has a dress code.  I know we are supposed to follow it.  I don't know what it is.  I guess we should leave the tennis shoes and tube tops at home.  That will be hard.

Food/Drink: Buffet, seated dinner.  One drink is on us.  I had hoped to spring for 2 drink tickets per guest but we had a few cancellations, and I don't want to end up in the hole.  Please come with a designated driver or the number of a cab company.

Photos: We have hired a photographer for the evening.  She will arrive a bit after we do; maybe around 7:00 to give us a chance to get over the "shiny new weirdness of seeing each other again" before she starts snapping candids.  We will do a group shot.  Please don't let me forget.  All of the pictures will be made available to you via a link from this site so that you can download, print, scrapbook, decoupage, voodoo...Please, please ask Thelen (the photographer) to take pictures.  If there is shot you want, find her.  That's why she is coming.  This is a big occasion and we want evidence.

I think that's all I have for today.  If you are really confused about where to be, scroll to the bottom of this blog for all the times and stuff like that.  See you in Knoxville!

Bat Wings

As summer vacation drew to a close, I took a hard look at myself.   I am not speaking on the emotional plane, I mean I got in front of the mirror and really looked; part dermatologist, part CSI.  The gal staring back was a bit hag-licious but happy: sun damaged hair, sunscreen-clogged pores, and few regrets after a summer of fun with Lucy and Macy.  I wouldn’t change a thing.  Except maybe my arms.

My summer yoga practice is the “yoga of letting go.”  Rather than practicing vinyasas, I practice breathing and mindfulness while I hang out with Lucy and Macy.  I am not sure which practice is more difficult, but I am very clear on which practice will leave you flabby.

With our reunion looming and my arms sagging, I quickly turned to my dear friend Sissy and the Christmas present that has long since grown dusty – the Tracy Anderson Mat Workout Video.  Do you know of Tracy Anderson?  You simply must.  Not because I am recommending that you do this workout.  Rather, grab a beer and some popcorn and just watch.  She is hilarious.  TA (that’s what I call her) has pouty lips and a range of sexy expressions that can’t be matched.  And a bit of an attitude - as if maybe she is a bit too cool to appear in her own workout video.

I won’t lie.  I have made half hearted attempts.  But now I have a better plan: Rather than doing all these arm exercises; which may or may not work but will definitely hurt, the smarter pursuit would be to mimic Tracy Anderson’s facial expressions.  If I can master her pouty lips and hair fling (I may need extensions) no one will even look at my arms.

Blogger’s note: I hope that after reading this far, you are thinking something like, “Good grief, Callie needs to get over it.  There is real sh@t going down in this world.”  Yes.  Yes, there is.  Now take that finger that you are wagging at your computer screen and point it right back at yourself, my friend.  I humiliated myself with this blog on purpose so that we could collectively move past the BS.  What silly things are you worrying about?   What bits of mental pond scum could prevent you from having real, meaningful encounters?  Banish these thoughts. Shake them away with your flabby arms!  BE GONE!!

White Elephant

Friends, we have a white elephant in our blog, and I can't ignore it anymore.  Have you noticed the lime green link just southwest of this text (I tried to insert an arrow but can't figure it out and ran out of both time and patience)?  Yes, the link that causes a universal shudder...Cancer! 

Is cancer part of your story?  I am sure we have all been affected in some way - the loss or near loss of a family member, a friend, or that gripping fear while waiting for a call about a funky mole or a weird pap smear (how many additional search pops will we get now that I referred to lady-town?).

We have four classmates, yes FOUR, in a fight not to the death, but a FIGHT-TO-THE-LIFE: Laura, Alex, Tasnima, and Blair.  Somehow, during their epic battles, they have also managed to inspire others, raise money and grow awareness.  I am humbled and encouraged by their stories.

And of course, I wish there was something I could do.  I know you feel the same way.  Theresa set up a donation site with the American Cancer Society (thank you!).  We ask that you give what you can.  Pack your lunch next week instead of eating out.  Go to the library instead of buying a new book.  Wear something from your closet to the reunion.  In some way, please join this fight.

And if you are a prayer - pray.  Practice voodoo or do a holy dance.  Light candles, dedicate a yoga practice, sign up for a run.  Find a way to honor our friends and send healing energy in their directions.

These folks know the importance of showing up.  With the exception of Blair, they will all be at our reunion. Blair is a football coach and he let me know in January that the September date was impossible with his schedule.  We must remember to raise a glass in his honor!

I am off to light some candles, pray and practice my own Buddhapalian/Jewish/Holistic health dance and shower it all over our friends.  What will you do?

Michael, I have your t-shirt

Do you have a task on your to-do list that you particularly dread?  One that you know you must do but you try to ignore and make it go away?   When I open my calendar, it is as if the dreaded task is bold and italicized – both luminous and menacing.  For the last month, the task that I tried to ignore as the lump of dread grew in my stomach was “Go to storage to get the WSK 1991 box.”  (You really need to read that in a creepy voice for this blog to work. Go back and do so please.  Thanks.)

We had wonderful movers.   I accompanied them to our condo and stayed to unpack.  Andy followed them to the storage facility with my explicit instructions.  If the item had the special tape, in our case Hello Kitty duck tape (who can resist something so fun and frivolous when buying moving supplies?), it must be placed up front.  We will need these items at some point before we move to the new house.

But I was still afraid.  As the movers carried items out of our hall closet and loaded the truck, I saw a box I had completely forgotten.  For those of you who remember the days of P&S Plastics, it was one of those totes.  I packed it after our 10 year reunion and haven’t opened it since.  In the hurry of the move, I tagged it with a few inches of Hello Kitty tape and then pushed it to the back of my mind.

Yesterday, I finally mustered up the courage/realized I was running out of time and drove to our storage facility.  After meandering around for at least 15 minutes instead of asking for directions (stalling!), I opened the first unit to find our garage and lawn items.  If it was buried behind those, the WSK 1991 box would not be joining us for our 20^th.  I moved on to the second unit and felt the tension increase.  Would the coding system have worked?  Would the reunion time capsule and other really important boxes (think sweaters, coats, etc) be accessible?  I rolled up the garage style door and prepared for the worst.  Cue the fanfare. 

Every box with Hello Kitty tape was within my grasp.  Sure, stacked precariously high, but accessible. 

As soon as I had the tote in my trunk, I snapped a photo for Rebecca.  And I grabbed a pile of papers to read in the car line.  What fun.  I promise to bring the entire box to share with all of you.  And Michael can finally get his t-shirt.

Apparently Michael forgot to take home his t-shirt from our ten year reunion.  I threw it into the tote with all the other stuff; yearbooks, Spartan Spirits, and saddle shoes.