By Tim Sullivan
Reunions are nervy, emotional twitch-fests that just enough people relish for them to be organized in the first place and at my age you almost can’t avoid them. Somebody, somewhere, that I spent a chunk of time with at some point is just itching to get the old crew back together. If my buddy Hugh’s collarbone heals correctly then maybe I’ll recount the recent reunion with my post-college Winnebago travel buddies with next month’s column. But first let’s make sure that we all still agree it was a fun weekend…
It’s a lot easier to go to someone else’s reunion. My wife Kristen went to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania in the mid 90’s and their football rival is Lafayette College. The two schools carry the banner of being the most played college rivalry ever and marked this by playing the 150th meeting in Yankee Stadium on Nov. 21. It was a major event. The game sold out in seven seconds or something like that. Flights were booked. Blocks of hotel rooms were reserved. The Empire State building was to be lit up and most importantly, old familiar faces would be seen.
An alumni party was planned where people were (genuinely) encouraged to dig deep into their closets to “find their old drinking shoes.” The entire bar was rented out and unless the party drank a certain amount the organizer would be on the hook, so seriously, drink up, already. Thankfully the turnout was tremendous and many of the revelers looked as if their old drinking shoes had never been packed away. Several explained to me that they were supposed to be class of ’94 or ’95 but wound up finishing in ’97 or ’98. I’m going to guess the minimum tab was never in doubt.
On the way to the party, Kristen mused that people wouldn’t recognize her but they would think they remembered me. She was right. It became something of a phenomenon for the two day trip. One guy was like, “dude, I have lost too many brain cells and I cannot remember your name but I know I know you.” I let him down easy, but he persisted by asking where I was from, what I do for a living, yada yada… Then he nailed it: “Do you like live music?” I said that I did and asked him if he was in a band. He said no but that he really liked live music so maybe he saw me at a show one time. I agreed that that must have been what happened.
A few times I literally worked the crowd. I would see someone 15 feet away who I could tell thought they knew me and I’d give a little snap and a point as if to say, “Hey brother! Good to see you too! So crowded!” I’d slink away embarrassed that I’d just become something of a snap and point guy, but then again it wasn’t really me so it didn’t matter much.
Another guy said he wasn’t sure if he remembered me from college or if I just looked a lot like his cousin Greg. That was essentially a lob serve for drinking-shoes Kristen to tell this guy and five other strangers that people have actually mistaken me for the guy who played Greg Brady on the Brady Bunch. I wonder how Barry Williams/Greg Brady/Johnny Bravo would react if while ataa high school reunion someone blurted, “Hey, anybody ever tell you that you look like that Timmydaddy guy?” He’d probably be all unnerved like, “ I’m Barry-friggin’-Williams, ok?”
When we were at Yankee Stadium, I’m pretty sure that I saw my sister-in-law Suzanne’s brother, Eddie. I was in line for a hot pretzel and he was on another line to get into the Jim Beam bar. I thought about trying to get his attention but being so out of context I didn’t think he’d recognize me.
Tim Sullivan grew up in a large family in the Northeast and now lives with his small family in Oakhurst. He can be reached at tim@sullivanfinerugs.com.
