All in the mind of an autistic child

I was up and downstairs shortly after 7am. Everyone else still sleeping, I started some coffee then tidied up the kitchen after Friday night’s buttery nipple shots. While the coffee finished brewing I got logged on to my laptop and checked in with work. I had an escalation that I needed to follow-up on.

Geese were once again congregating in our lawn up by the deck. I headed out to shew them away with my bb gun. David was up and downstairs by 740am. I wrapped up what I was doing relative to work then joined him on the deck for coffee. After a shower, Anita joined us too. Mindy was up just after 830am. I left for my run around 9am. I ran the usual weekend trail logging three miles. It was a good, sweaty run.

Upon my return, I rejoined the gang out relaxing in the morning sunshine on the deck. Mindy soon headed in to reheat the breakfast burrito concoction. We all took part in breakfast burritos again. The day’s plans included spending the afternoon at Comfest then attending our 35 year HS class reunion later that evening. I’m thinking it was near noon when we left the house for Comfest.

I got another work related escalation just as we were leaving the house. Lucky for me, I had enough foresight to take care of what needed addressed before we left the house. Call me wise! We took the back way into Comfest cutting through Arlington and Grandview across 5th avenue to Neil. We drove around for about 10 minutes looking for a parking spot eventually deciding to drop the girls off at the corner of Buttles and Harrison and then going off to find a parking spot. David and I found a spot near Pennsylvania and 2nd ave. Probably about a half mile walk. Not too bad.

David called the girls once we were in the park asking there whereabouts. They were walking along Park St where all the vendors were set up. We found them easily. We casually walked the length of Park St stopping at several vendor’s tents along the way and then to take photos with a rather stiff, almost cardboard-like Barack Obama.

We made our way to the festival’s southern most point where we purchased beer tokens and a commemorative cup. I had mine filled with CBC pale ale. David went with the CBC Summer Teeth. He said he didn’t too much for it. In hindsight should have chosen the PBR. For my money, we spent too much time looking at stuff and signing petitions. I wanted to enjoy live entertainment. After getting our second beers we finally headed into he heart of the park stopping off at one of the many stages to listen to a local band. We found some shade and took up camp for about 30-40 minutes. Mindy even got up and danced.

One of the best experiences associated with Comfest is the people watching. We weren’t disappointed. There was something there for everyone to enjoy. We ran into several Barley peeps and were told that Bob & Mary Ann were there. We texted but by the time we heard back they were already on their way home. Mindy exchanged texts with nephew Joe. He was hanging out at a home on Buttles directly across the street from the festival that belonged to a friend of Craig & Jeff’s. We made our way that direction and eventually joined up with them.

Nice place, a beautiful Victorian style home. There were several folks gathered on the large front porch. There I met the owners, Tom & Brett. They were having a really good time with all their friends. There was a large glass dispenser of sangria available as well as a bowl filled with vodka soaked cherries. The cherries were amazing. I had two or three. David and Anita fit right in yucking it up with everybody else. That made me happy.

We hung out until about 4pm when we figured we ought to head home and ready for the reunion. David and I went for the Pilot while the women continued with the party on the porch. I’m guessing that 15 minutes passed before we were back with the Pilot. Arrived home near 440pm. Truth be told, I was under slept from jump, and even more so after spending 3-4 hours in the sun and drinking two beers. So before getting ready for the reunion, I took a cat nap from the comfort of the family room chair. I slept no more than ten minutes but it felt terrific. I headed up for a shower around 515pm.

A shower was just what the doctor ordered. We were all ready to go near 530pm and left the house a few minutes later. It was an easy drive to the Shamrock Club, east on 70 to 71 south then east again on 104 to High St. The Shamrock Club is located south of 104 by about ½ a mile just west of High St. The lot was fuller than I expected. Seemed as though we were late even though in reality we were a couple minutes early yet.

Can’t explain why, but I was a little apprehensive/nervous at the check-in process. Greeting and checking in all the class members was Mr Vanderson and Mr Malonosky, neither of which I forged relationships with during my years at West. I already knew after speaking briefly with Sandy Redmond the evening before at the golf tournament they didn’t have a badge with my photo. According to her, the return address stamp of Thompson-Wright threw them off. Couldn’t correlate a James Thompson to a 76 or 77 graduate. Please! No biggie. As Mindy mentioned, my 30 year reunion badge was resting in a night stand drawer. I should’ve worn it. I made the best of it, signing my generic badge “Mr Wright” along with my signature caricature.

The venue was set-up to host the majority of the reunion out of doors. There was a shelter house and make-shift bar. I ordered Mindy a wine and myself a water. I didn’t realize it initially, but it was a cash bar. Add to that, the beer selection was lame – pedestrian. I opted for water instead. I felt dehydrated anyway.

I’m certainly not at my best under such conditions, but I did my fair share of socializing before dinner. Early on Suzi Sauers walked up and whispered in my ear that I get more distinguished looking every time she sees me, which hasn’t been by maybe three times since HS. Said I reminded her of Al Pacino.  I don’t want to be cruel but many class members looked bad, overweight, out of shape and just plain old. However, there were a few that have held up well.

Dinner was catered by City Barbeque, and I’m guessing that would’ve been around 730pm, or right after class pictures. The food line was set up inside. There were just a few tables inside so we opted to head back out to the shelter house to eat. David & Anita never came out. I later learned they shared a table inside with Mike Griesdorn and his lovely wife. Mindy & I shared a table with Jodie & Larry.

After I finished my meal I moseyed over to the table adjacent to ours where Tim Dientz sat with his new wife, Artie along with another young lady. Her name escapes me, but I she told me she was one of Theresa Harlor’s best friends. We talked for a while and eventually Mindy, Jodie & Larry joined us.

The DJ started playing music as dinner wound down. While playing Chicago’s Color My world, I asked Mindy to dance. We were the only ones dancing, forging our own dance floor. Even for me, that behavior is way outside the box. After our dance we mingled some more. I eventually got over the social anxiety and struck up conversations with all sorts of people. Mindy and I talked at length with Rusty Ranney.and his wife, Wendy and then spent considerable time talking with Patty Conrad & her husband, Tito. Also talked with Mike Inks, who I only knew in passing prior. Mindy, as it turned out, taught one of his sons. At my prompting, Mindy friended Patty Conrad on Facebook so we can get together another time. As I understand it, Tito’s ex-wife was one of Mindy’s best friends in high school. Small world.

As 10pm neared, I suggested we leave and head to CBC where I could relax and enjoy a beer. But I didn’t want to rain on David’s parade if he wanted to stay longer. Turned out. He and Anita were ready to leave as well. Somebody had the bright idea to light a camp fire right next to the patio. It was smoking like the dickens. I joked that somebody threw an old sofa on it. The smoke was bothering all of us. We left still before 10pm.

We drove north all the way up high street to Greenlawn Ave. then north on Front St. to Liberty and finally to CBC. It was about 1030pm and they weren’t busy at all. Pretty much the same folks working that were there Friday night. I ordered a Bodhi and Mindy ordered water. David and Anita ordered Bailey’s and coffee and then shared a piece of banana cream pie. Having not eaten much at the reunion, I was still hungry for some protein. I ordered wings.

David went on about how much one of the servers looked like Paige from a reality TV show. Can’t recall the name of the show, but did pull up the photo on my Droid. He was right. There was a strong likeness. We called her Paige for the rest of the evening. She took it as a compliment after seeing the picture.

I ended up drinking a 2nd Bodhi while I finished my wings. Man, were they ever delicious! David graciously picked up the tab again. I doubled up the tip. It was late by the time we got home. It was almost 1am. Holy smoke! Where had the day gone? All of us were exhausted. We’d been on our feet for most of the day. Off to bed.