These are the good times

The positive aftershocks of the first unofficial 1990s University of Montevallo reunion continue after almost a week. Everyone had such a good time, we didn't want it to end as the sunlight faded out at about 9:00. It was great to see people I hadn't seen in 10 years or longer, meet their kids, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and/or dogs. The wife of one of my bandmates had told me the place would be covered up with kids. I didn't believe her until I got there and realized that each one of the herd, ranging in ages from six months to 13 years and every age in between, belonged to someone I know.

My band, Every Alice on Earth, had some definitely butterflies to content with after a six year hiatus and only two practices under our belts. The good thing was that no one seemed to mind our screw-ups except us and when it was over, we got to relax with the rest of the adults, watch the kids play, drink some beers and relax. My friends Sam and Angela were nice enough to grill enough food for everyone and the amount of side dishes made it feel like a real family reunion. I don't think there was one person there who didn't have a good time. The party broke up into smaller parties. I was tired from work the night before and hauling band equipment around so I drove back to Birmingham, grateful for the day. Sometimes I wish the rest of the world was as friendly, laid back and peaceful as Montevallo, but that would make Montevallo less special.

I am in the process of setting up a blog with photos and video of the reunion and have solicited help from all the people who were there with cameras. So far my favorite photo is this one, sent to me by a guy I went to art school with. The the girls on the left and in the middle belong to to Mike and the girl on the right belongs to another guy we went to school with who I didn't know. This picture sums up the good time had by all.

(The strangest part of the whole event was that it was conceived and executed through myspace.com. Who would have thought that this primitive web site would provide a network where all the friends you wonder what happened to, suddenly show up. It's pretty amazing.)

(Photo by Mike Johnson)