Of Course It Got Complicated

Apologies for the delay in posting, especially as I'm sure you were all keen to find out what happened with my little reunion this past weekend. As things will, things got a little... complicated that night and I felt it best to sort through my thoughts and memories before committing them to print in a horribly incomplete or inaccurate manner. I'm sure there's still something I don't recall properly or a conversation I've yet to grasp the point of but, well, that's life isn't it? Sometimes we don't understand things that happen to us, sometimes we forget important lessons that life teaches us, and sometimes larger events blot out life's little details.

Now, with the 'disclaimer' in place, Saturday evening.

Getting to Scott's house was no fun at all. The weather didn't cooperate, drizzling this fine mist over the area. Due to the downwards direction of the temperature, this fine mist wanted desperately to freeze but somehow never quite managed it. As the roads did become slippery because of the precipitation, the traffic became messier and messier. The driving conditions weren't awful but some caution was called for in order to proceed safely. As per usual this meant that some drivers crept along at a snail's pace while others flew along as if it were bright and sunny out. Once I found the pace I was comfortable with, I'd get stuck behind a slower car and, before I could safely get around them, a speed demon would hang onto my bumper. Over and over again this situation occurred. I hate that.

Now grouchy but safe, I made it to the suburb where Scott and his family live. I'm familiar with the area in general and expected no issues locating his street or house; that is until I was unable to identify any of my landmarks in the dark. Holiday lights obscured address markers. I drove up and down one street three times until I realized that I'd turned right when I should have turned left and really needed to be on the other side of the nearby major street in order to be in the correct part of the subdivision.

According to my own plan, I was now late. There was no real start time to the gathering, no arrive by such-and-such a time so we can eat dinner or anything like that. I was only late in my own head but, coupled with my frustration over the weather and the drive, it mattered. I took a moment in the car to relax before heading inside.

Scott's wife met me at the door. We'd not previously met but both of us have pictures available to see online so we were able to recognize each other. Natalie is an attractive little blond lady. While I didn't vocalize the thought, I was amused that my big buddy Scott, both tall and burly, should get hitched to this little lady, both petite and diminutive.

A downside to being late to a party is that everyone else is already there. Natalie politely took me around to the rest of the gang to say hi and introduce me to their significant others. I was the only one there by myself. Not for the last time that night I wished Sarah Jean was in town this weekend. I was assaulted by names during this process. I do not retain names well. This did nothing to relax me, quite the opposite actually.

Even while unaware of the nerves running through me, Natalie did her best to make me comfortable. She got me a beer, made sure it was a brand I liked, and fussed over me a bit. I got the impression over the course of the evening that this is just her nature. She's a very sweet lady. I reassured her I'd be fine and tossed myself into the pool of my old friends.

Reflecting back upon my thought processes while planning to go, I'm unable to really identify my expectations for the evening. These are people that I used to have fun with years ago. I guess I expected that there might be some trouble do to the way that we left each other's company but we would still have a good time together. A little catching up, a little polite lack of comfortability that would fade after a few minutes of reminiscing, right?

Yeah, not so much.