The Day We "Saw the Sign"

As social networking seems to be increasing in popularity and ease of use, it is easier now than ever before to stay in touch with old friends and classmates. Getting together in person however seems to be more difficult than ever. Between different hometowns, jobs, spouses, kids and busy lives in general it can be nearly impossible to pin down a much sought after and highly anticipated reunion.

Somehow, a group of five of us from High School managed to pull it off. This picture was taken as the seven of us were off to our Senior Dinner Dance back in 1994. It seems like it was yesterday or maybe 100 years ago. Either way that was a great night and the Bengals from the class of '94 had a great time celebrating our upcoming graduation together (it was a no-date dance, so everyone could just come with their friends rather than get asked by someone you'd been trying to avoid since 3rd grade). One of our favorite memories from that night was when they played "our song," by Ace of Base - "I Saw the Sign." It's a song you rarely hear these days but we all think of the "good old days" when it's played.

So we weren't able to track down Megan or Keisha but the rest of us all happened to be in the same place for a very short period of time. After about 55 emails back and forth we determined that we had about a two and a half hour window where everyone could get together. Just days before we weren't even all on the same continent and we are typically spread across the country. This was like the perfect storm, but in a good way. So for old times' sake we honored our tradition and met at Red Robin for lunch. I barely made it because I had to take Katelyn to InstaCare because of a severe allergic reaction to a cat (her eye was swollen shut). Kristina just flew in to town, Tammy and Jen were leaving town and Monika had to get home to get her kids settled so she could teach piano.

Despite how hectic it was to pull it off, we had a wonderful time. We started by catching up and reliving fun memories. We laughed so hard that other people started to stare and of course we finished the get-together off with a piece of mud pie. I wish I could adequately describe how much fun we had and how great it was to hang out again. The highlight of the reunion however was when Jen suddenly pointed up at the ceiling and said "Guys..." We all actually stopped talking long enough to hear the song that was playing. That's right, it was Ace of Base "I Saw the Sign." We couldn't believe it. We also couldn't believe that there was only about 30 seconds left of the song - thank goodness Jen noticed.

It will probably be a long time before all our worlds collide again, but in the meantime we have a lot of fun memories to hold on to and blogs to keep us in better contact. I love you girls!