How To Prepare for A Chamberlain High School Reunion. Or Not.

“To thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Sometimes, I’m sure my mother wishes she didn’t stress the importance of that famous Shakespearean quote. Or maybe she wishes sometimes that I didn’t take it to heart so completely. But she did. And so I did. And the rest is history.

Which leads to this upcoming weekend and what Cathy so lovingly refers to as: The Cancer Golf Party.

At first, I wasn’t going to go.

Although I’ve donated to the cause before, my closest friends were supposed to be off having a baby, traveling to Aruba, unable to make the trip, or simply not interested. I didn’t feel like going alone. Talking to one girl who couldn’t make the trip, we’ll call her Sarah, I joked and said I’d go only to make one of my silly videos.

Sarah got an idea.

“Why don’t you make a video ahead of time to get more people interested in coming?” she asked.

I declined. Several times. I was worried, because not everyone digs my liberal, godless ways.

“Have you seen what I do?” I asked.

But Sarah mentioned her idea to someone who mentioned it to someone else and they asked me to help out. You know me, bleeding heart and all. I reluctantly agreed.

So I found myself facing the inevitable question – should I, in the immortal words of Adam Horowitz, change up my style just to fit in?

Years ago, when I first started writing, I knew that no matter what I did, I wouldn’t please everyone. There are those on the left who say I’m not liberal enough and people on the other end who think I’m a socialist. Some don’t like my cursing and others think I sell out each time I write for a mainstream rag.

So I decided, way back when, joke ‘em if they can’t take a fuck. I write for me. If others are thrilled or disgusted, that is their issue.

SIDE NOTE: I love it when people start writing, blogging, or freelancing. Then six months later they quit because a) it’s not as easy as it looks, b) the feedback can be brutal, or c) the feedback can be brutal.

At any rate, I developed a thick skin and deal with the heat while smiling. It takes a certain amount of grace to stay cool while getting verbally attacked in Publix because someone doesn’t approve of *pussy.*

In my defense though, the hater left liking me more than she ever thought possible. I’m notoriously hard to hate.

Anyway, I seriously consider myself the luckiest woman on the planet to be able to contribute to the conversation in my community without fear or trepidation. I matter here. And my friends and family support me to the death.

So it’s all good.

Ultimately, I did go easy in the video. Damn near conservative, really.

In the past I’ve taken my shirt off for breast cancer and you can’t even see my nipples in this thing.

As a result, a few friends who weren’t interested in going decided they were interested, canceled Aruba, and are making the trip. Mission accomplished. I decided I’d go after all.

But apparently the video wasn’t well received by everyone. Sarah called me one morning with another request.

“Can you just delete everything in the video after your kids talk about the event?” she asked. “And then re-release it?”

Blink. Pause. Blink.

“You mean me.” I said. “You all want me to delete…me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Yes, folks, high school all over again.

…to be continued.

Tags: chamberlain reunion, driving miss darby