Loyalty wins out

One of the life lessons upon which I agree with Count Trumpula is that it is important to be loyal to the people who have been loyal to you. Not people who disappeared on you years ago but people who have stuck around even through the shitty times when you’ve felt down and out. (Or cried down the streets of Tahlequah from a broken heart, LOL.) My 10 year high school reunion was this past weekend. I contemplated going . . . and thought better of it for a myriad of reasons. I will outline them quickly here:

It was hot as hell outside this weekend and, considering I already had to mow the lawn, I did not particularly want to stand around outside any additional time roasting to death.

The second part of it was at a shitty bar in Tulsa that I have never once had a good time at and around which the OHP has been engaged in DUI stings. Talk about not even remotely worth it.

I did not even learn of the reunion until a week or two previous to it being coordinated. That factoid in and of itself said a lot. I think it was all planned out on Facebook (if you read this blog with any frequency, you know my thoughts on Facebook) so it’s not a wonder I was out of the loop.

I had no desire to meet people’s wives, husbands, kids, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. It is not meant as any disrespect to anyone but the spouse of someone I went to high school with and have not seen in years is pretty much no one to me. I have nothing against any of them and wish them nothing ill but they are not relevant to my life. Simple as that. It would be like trying to strike up a personal conversation with someone in the grocery store check-out line: random and awkward.

And the most important reason of all comes back to Count Trumpula’s words of wisdom. I didn’t much feel like ditching a group of good, solid friends who love and care about me to gallivant with people I haven’t seen in a decade who haven’t bothered to say a damn word to me. Someone who’s been loyal to me for the past ten years is more treasured to me than people who are now virtual strangers. Yes, there are people who send occasional emails and occasional “hellos” on MySpace but that’s not real friendship. Those things are nice gestures and they can help maintain an existing friendship over a long distance but they don’t substitute for someone who is there in the flesh when you need something. If there is a toss-up between spending time with a group of cool cats who’ve been good to me and have been an actual part of my life in recent history versus sweltering with strangers and trying to play the big shot, I’ll take the former over the latter any old day. My life is so much better now than it was 10 or even 5 years ago. I laughed thinking about the ep of Family Guy where Peter goes to his reunion and pretends to be a wealthy cowboy astronaut because he thinks that is what will impress people the most. What’s really great is when you look at life and say, “I am rocking the hell out of this experience. There’s no need to create a façade because the real deal is better than anything I could construct from fantasy.” And I mean that truly and sincerely. I’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating: LG, life’s good.