Monday, October 04, 2010

Dobson 25-Year 'Reunion'

Splendor in the Grass: Where's Walsh?

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Phoenix was an impromptu reunion with two of my old friends from high school -- Mike and Yuki -- whom I hadn't seen in many years. As anyone who has moved away knows, trips "home" are difficult, because you have such limitied time, and you have so many people you want to see. Family always comes first, and before you know it it's been years since you've seen people who were once very close to you. (In this case, 23 and 15 years, respectively.) Having graduated from high school in 1985, 2010 would normally be the time for a 25-year reunion -- only Arizona only does them once a decade. But having attended my 10-year reunion back in 1995, I reazlied that my class was so huge (more than 800 kids) and my modest group of friends were scattered among various classes, that a proper reunion wasn't really worth my while much. (Who are THESE PEOPLE?) So much so that I ended up skipping my 20th so I could go to Detroit for a mini-reunion of close friends instead.

So I was really happy that the timing worked out so perfectly for me to see my old pal Mike, who is now a reverend for the United Methodist Church.

What's a quarter century among friends?

Mike, now married with two adorable daughters, had me and my family in hysterics reminiscing about high school, where he recalls being the "less attractive" kid in a bunch of boys that included New Wave Mormon God Andre (below, left) and John, who girls would constantly tell looked like either Wally Cleaver or Lorenzo Lamas.

Andre and John on the Tiger Beat

Hairy situation: Mike and his high school doppelganger

It was also funny hearing how Mike finally ended up meeting the kid he was constantly mistaken for (Tom, above, right). We think Mike may have taken a punch on behalf of something this Tom kid did back in the day, but living down that Flock of Seagulls haircut was probably the hardest thing Mike ever did.

The next afternoon I lucked out that my friend Yuki lives right around the corner from the art studio my friend Mary owns where we'd taken my niece and nephew for the afternoon. Seeing Yuki -- along with our pal Deanna -- was the best thing about the 10-year reunion, yet bad relationships, children, break-ups and other obligations have stopped us from getting together in ages, so it was a real thrill to finally meet up face-to-face.

The Cardigans

Class for Maximum Mormon goodness

As I said, my class was so huge -- plus I didn't start school in Arizona until 7th grade -- that I wouldn't really want to go to another official reunion for the Class of '85, who lived through the trauma of Jon-Erik Hexum's accidental suicide and Vanessa Williams' decrowning, witnessed the birth of Princess Diana's backup heir, and wondered alongside Clara Peller where the beef was.

Frank Anthony Polito would be proud

But if it were up to me and I could pick who would be at a fantasy reunion, here's who I'd wanna take a look at today.

Best Looking: Scott was the quintessential boy-next-door (I'm pretty sure Glamour Shots were invented as a direct result of this senior-photo shoot) -- having played every sport known to man, graduated at the top of his class, and being just ridiculously cute. I never knew much about Paul, right, but I do remember thinking he and his big brother Steve were just incredibly hot. (That cleft chin!)

Boy Most Likely To: In terms of raw sex appeal, no one came close to Leonard, whose curly golden locks might just explain my Johnny Davenport fixation all these years later. (Was that a Toni home perm, Len?)

Double Trouble: The Winkelvosses have nothing on these Dobson twins -- give or take many million dollars and an Ivy League education or two. Would you believe I only realized they were twins when I was scanning the yearbook just now? (I wondered why I would see them EVERYWHERE I went, not that I minded!)

Todd was one of my best friends in junior high, and would later appear on "Star Search."

Missionary Man: Andre does his good deed for the American Red Cross

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Americans have a wonderful tradition regarding year books and year book photos - it's AMAZING!!
I don't know any of the people you mentioned but the stories are great.

Matthew said...

I can't imagine writing so frankly about people I lusted after in high school...haven't you heard of the Facebook???

Ken said...

Could you please spare us your childhood photos. Save them for your boyfriend. Is this a blog or not?