To be clear, I HATED my high school. It is difficult to explain, but at a very young age, all I really yearned for was to be on my own. I met Libby at a time when I wasn't really connecting with my own class. I had just come out of middle school, which is not a favorite time in anyone's life, and I was just sort of trying to find my way socially. There are people who like a posse of friends and there are people who just need that one friend - and that is me. I found it anxiety producing to be part of a group, and I spent most of my middle school years struggling with that concept until I met Libby.
We had an absolute ball together. My grades dropped from A's to C's, but I was really happy and to my parents' credit, they loved Libby and saw her as a positive influence. Libby and I did all of the things that best friends did. We dated best friends. We wore each others' clothes (mostly I wore hers because they were nicer and she was generous). We cut school together. We laid out together. But, mostly we laughed together and had a great time together.
I have had some of my most humiliating times with her and some of my most triumphant times with her. High school is such a volatile time. You do so much growing in that period. It really shapes you as a person and, if you think about it, it plays a major role in influencing the relationships you will have later in life.
Therefore, when I am able to hang out with Libby, as an adult, I revert back to being a teenager. Last week, Libby and I went to Mr.G's, my favorite hang out that is three blocks from my parent's house. It is a major hole in the wall and it is jam packed with a mixture of locals, Eastern High School staff (past and present), and Eastern High School Alumni, as well.
You just never know who you are going to run into at Mr. G's. Brad and I go there every Derby weekend and every time that we visit my parents. Really, this is the first time that I have been there without Brad in many years, although it is definitely one of those bars that invites people to come and sit at the bar by themselves. Don't think for a second that I have not thought about stopping in for a belt while perusing The Fresh Market next door.
It was a Tuesday night and as usual, Mr. G's did not disappoint. I saw people who I had not seen in years. You must understand, that outside of maybe two people, in Columbus, I never see anyone that I went to college with, let alone a high school buddy.
One of the funniest things about Mr. G's is that Eastern High School staff hang there. I love it when I look over and I see the former Eastern High School security guard and the current gym teacher clinking their gigantic mugs full of draft beer at the end of a hard day. Whenever Libby and I are together and we encounter former staff at Eastern High School, they always comment on how they can't believe they are seeing us together because we were inseparable (translation "always getting in trouble") in high school.
This is all water under the bridge now (so I can put it out there) but when we were in high school, Libby used to aide in the office. She struck up a friendship with the woman who would call home if you were absent from school. This is terrible and would never happen now, but we would inform her the day before we were going to ditch and then she would not call out parents.
To further illustrate how times have changed, my senior year, I had two study halls, weight training, and was an aide in the office which constituted half of my school day where I was not being educated. Libby and I were discussing how one of our assistant principles was a total perve and we were reminiscing about how he would invite aides to sit on his lap. Can you imagine that happening today? Apparently, the niece of that staff member is currently under suspension for statutory rape and several other "minor" related charges so the apple does not fall far from the tree. This is Kentucky people, lines tend to be blurred there.
During this rather salacious conversation, my friend from childhood and Mr. G's mascot, and Eastern High School alum, chimed in with other morsels of gossip from our era. It was so much fun. I haven't ruined that many reputations in a single conversation since my Sorority days.
Anyway, Libby's first boyfriend, Jim, showed up and we spent the majority of the evening with him. He was an extra in the film, Secretariat, which was filmed in Louisville. He and Libby both had their iphones out and things became very technological at one point while they were trying to show me his part in the movie. Finally, Libby's phone ran out of power, thank God, and she was unable to both call people, put them on speaker and then hand the phone to you, and also, surf the net to illustrate her points. She is freakin' dangerous with that thing.
Apparently, he spent three days filming at Churchill Downs and they used about three seconds of footage of him. It was thrilling as he recanted rubbing elbows with E from Entourage and making small talk with Diane Lane. I just happened to have the movie in my purse because my mom had given it to my daughter for her birthday and we were planning on watching it the next day on our road trip to Indiana.
Well, let me tell you, Jim signed it and I might as well have had the horse sign it as well. My kids were so impressed. We actually made a game of trying to spot Jim's "ugly mint green blazer" as the camera pans over the crowd during a press conference in the movie. Hilarious. You just never know what your night is going to consist of at Mr. G's. It is always memorable, though.
My recommendation to you is to rent the movie, "Secretariat". It is so good. Derby is just around the corner - the first Saturday in May - and it is just the thing to get you in the mood. Hey, Libs, you got yer pic in my blog. Aren't you proud? Or is the correct adjective "mortified"? Thanks for a fun Spring Break.
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