Flying the Friendly Skies and a 30 year Class Reunion

Andrew had always told me he was a ghost in his school, that he knew a lot of people but he didn't think a lot of people knew him. I have to tell you I was really shocked when earlier this year, he said he would like to go to his class reunion. Being the money manager, that translated into, "Let's find a way to make this work". Anyone who knows me knows that any chance to travel is a good one so I found a way to make it work even though it is officially my first year of being LIHEAP coordinator and LIHEAP started September 3rd. Not a great time to be gone but thanks to a very capable Assistant Coordinator and modern technology, I knew it would work. I had planned the trip in June. We would fly out on Thursday, giving us all day to get to McAlester with some time to spare before the first activity, going to the ballgame on Friday night. I had never been to Tulsa so it would also allow us to spend just a bit of time there, my idea, was eating dinner someplace nice before the almost 2 hour drive. Well, anyone who knows us knows things never go as planned. I thank the Lord daily that is doesn't seem to normally be bad things, just oddities. We flew out of St. Louis Thursday in route to Atlanta. I know....it was weird but it was cheap and as I said, we had plenty of time. My only worry was we only had 38 minutes between flights in Atlanta and so I was nervous that we would miss our flight out to Tulsa. We got to the second gate just at 30 minutes only to be told our plane was in the hangar and it would be about 1 1/2 hours late. No worries, there were LOTS of Starbucks around and I could relax that we wouldn't miss our plane. So our plane went from leaving Atlanta at 3:15 to 4:45. A glass of iced coffee and outlets to recharge our phones and we were set. At 4:45 they announced that it would be 5:15, so went the next 4 hours. At 6:00, they announced that there was a plane scheduled to leave for Tulsa at 8:00 and we could chose to get on it instead but if this plane got fixed, it could still leave sooner. I went and booked us on the 8:00 flight only to be told if our current plane ended up going, our luggage would be on it. This would save us NO time, we would either be sitting here waiting for a plane or sitting in Tulsa waiting on our luggage. At 6:18, I called the hotel I had booked for the 3 nights. I was supposed to call by 6 to cancel and I wasn't calling to cancel. I told her I knew I had to pay for the room because we had missed the deadline, I just didn't want her to give our room away for the next two nights. She said she COULD go ahead and cancel the Thursday night, bless her heart.  That freed us up to just find a place to sleep in Tulsa no matter when we got there. So, we made the decision, we would stay with our luggage. If that meant staying the night in the Atlanta airport, at least we were together and it would be cheap.  Most of the other people chose to take the 8:00 flight. I had posted on facebook what was going on and my friend Leslie from high school volunteered to come and be with us, take us someplace or anything. It would have been nice if we were given more than a 30 minute at a time schedule. As it turned out, there were 4 of us who hadn't taken the other plane. That resulted in 4 of us on the flight, at 9:30 that night. Obviously, we got first class seats and treated like royalty. 4 passengers, 3 flight attendants, 2 crew in the cab. We were on our way.

So we got to Tulsa, had a rather grouchy rental car attendant, who proclaimed "every flight has been late today" , got our luggage and found a place to stay. It was a room, no biggies, at a Days Inn but it was doable and we slept. The next morning we asked Siri to find us the best breakfast in Tulsa. Why is it that a lot of times these places look like dives? It did but breakfast was awesome and the strangest thing was happening. I was CRAVING grits. I normally hate grits but I ordered grits with my non- Weight-Watcher endorsed huge fried breakfast and they were awesome. I honestly wouldn't mind having some more....who knows what that is about??  Anyway it was a great breakfast.....and I can't even remember the name of the place. I apparently didn't take pictures, probably feeling guilty about the quantity of food, I was not able to eat it all though!

So, onto McAlester, we stayed at the Hampton Inn, I am a Drury girl but we had a studio suite and it was really nice. I have to say it will probably be what I look for if there is no Drury from now on.

There were three places Andrew wanted to eat at while we were in McAlester, Pete's Place, Krebs Korner and Braum's. We hit Pete's Place for a late lunch on Friday. Wow, what a place. Apparently, a lot of Italians came over and made their home in Krebs, right outside of McAlester. They had a passion for cooking and started opening their homes as restaurants. Pete's has expanded and looks like a restaurant on the outside, but on the inside, it is unique to anything I had experienced. Each table is in it's own room, complete with a door. Talk about an intimate evening out... and the food....oh my goodness! I LOVE Joe's here in town and it is still my favorite Italian restaurant but Pete's is now definitely second. Everything is handmade here as well but I have a feeling they were from different regions of Italy. The cheese in the salad is made at Lovera's, which also makes the Italian Sausage for most of the places in town. Both have won many awards. Here was lunch, off the LUNCH menu, I would hate to see supper!



Onto Friday night. We stopped by Andrew's brother, Kevin's house and visited with him and Rica for a while before heading to the game. We went to the ballgame and then to a Family Fun Center after the game, this was the first event of the reunion. When we got to the Center, I told Andrew, go see your friends, I'm not gonna be in the way, got myself a diet coke and headed for a bar stool in the corner. It wasn't long before people started asking him where his wife was so I joined the conversation. I have to be thankful to facebook, several of them at least knew of me from Andrew's posts. Made it seem like I wasn't such a stranger.

Afterwards, we snuck off to Braums's. It is an ice cream place that is to die for. It is a chain in the south central US. We had Banana Splits---once again, not necessarily Weight Watcher's endorsed but that is what I love about Weight Watcher's, there is no "you can't do this" list. There is a "you make your choices" list and it was my choice. It was very good.

Saturday morning, we attended a prayer breakfast with a fantastic breakfast buffet and then took tours of both high schools. McAlester had two high schools when Andrew was there. Most of the classes for Freshmen and Sophomores were in the old school and Juniors and Seniors were a few blocks away at the new school. If you were a lucky Sophomore, you had some classes at both, which meant you could drive between the schools. Leaving their closed campus rule for lunch in the dust. Andrew was one of those, as were several others. The old school had been turned into a museum. Most of it was different eras of time in McAlester but one room was school history. This was just a really good time and it was just a nice, relaxed atmosphere.

The three girls in this picture are simply amazing, Shannan, Janice, ( I thought at first that was Janice, the girl in the middle is Karen Whitington, who I really didn't get to talk to much, and Brandi (with her back turned). Shannan and I had been friends on fb for a while and it was so good to meet her. Carrie, the girl at the next table, in the green, planned all of this, along with a committee, they did a fantastic job. Happy to say, they are ALL my friends too now.

After the old school tour with one of the many buffalo sculptures. There were as many buffalo in McAlester as there are eagles in Newton, and sized to scale. Lots of BIG Buffalo.

After our morning activities, we headed to Krebs Korner which is actually a gas station with a deli in it. We got our lunch, I had to have the Italian Sausage Sandwich just for the "experience", and olive salad AND caprice salad. We went back to our room and ate and then took a sinfully long nap. I thought about getting Andrew up and getting in the hot tub but the bed was nice and it had been a long time since I had just taken a guilt-free nap.


That brings us to Saturday night and the main affair at the Grand. By this time, I had gotten acquainted with quite a few of Andrew's friends and so we just had some nice visiting time and excellent food. The menu was stated as "Heavy Horderves". What it translated to was "quite a spread". Chips and Sauces, cheeses, meatballs (WONDERFUL meatballs, three different kinds), wings, fruit, veggies....just awesome food.

We sat with Fred and Wendy Brown that evening. Fred and Andrew had been friends in high school. Fred works for Apple Computer and Wendy is a stay-at-home Mom. It was great visiting with both of them. They live in Austin TX and although our lives are very different, we found lots to visit about and found there are several things we all still have in common. I loved it when I told Fred I was IT Coordinator for our agency but that didn't mean I knew anything. His response is you are the one willing to fake it. BINGO!!!!  Hit the nail on the head. Most of what I get accomplished is dumb luck and shear stubbornness. Something inside of me says nothing mechanical is going to defeat me. 99 times out of 100- it doesn't. Fred wasn't putting me down, he was speaking from personal experience and it was nice visiting with him.

We had 3 really busy day and called it a night, saying goodbye to Andrew's friends and my new friends (notice I didn't use the word OLD! :-) ) We ventured back to the room and finally found the hot tub. It wasn't as hot as I would have liked but it was still good on the back and the bones and made sleeping easier.

Sunday morning, we made a quick trip to our niece's place of work, and visited with her for a few minutes. She had her husband bring their little girl, Phoenix, in to meet us. I hated it that she had to work but glad we still got to see them for a few. We went onto Kevin's before heading to Tulsa. I have a picture I didn't share on fb directly, but here it is now...Some things never change....

Kevin STILL has a pesky little brother.




Look at Kevin's face! He thought Andrew was going to lick him!?!?




So, we left McAlester with a lot of fond memories of a great weekend. With everything going on at our own house, as well as at the farm, it was perfect timing to get away.

Our flights home were nonevents, we were delayed probably 10 minutes in Chicago because of rain but other than that, smooth sailing. We got back to St. Louis, got our luggage, got to the car and decided we were starving. Plans were a McDonald's hamburger, but we both wanted food. We found an IHOP, (after discovering IMO'S was closed!) and ate one last meal. Andrew drove home so I could sleep as he had the next day off and I had to go in early. We made it home at 1:08. Seriously, I was in bed asleep by 1:10.

So, MHS Class of '83, you know how to put on a good party, create a lot of memories and make one anxious for 5 years of her life to pass. Thank you for treating an outsider like one of your own. I always wondered if Andrew and I would have met in high school instead of when we did, if we would have gotten along. I know my answer now, because his friends are an awful lot like my friends. Now his friends are my friends. Being in my hometown, it has been the other way around for quite some time, he knows most of my friends and has for years. So this was good, really good.

And yes, there is no doubt about it, when the 35 year MHS Class of '83 Reunion comes up, we will most definitely try to find a way to make it work.

(And seriously, any of you reading this, if you ever get to SOUTHERN Illinois--basically coming through the state on I-70, look us up! Our doors are always open and we would love to see you!)