Flying W Things

I had a great time at my 20th high school reunion.

Friday afternoon some of the gang met up at my friend Joel's parents' place for dinner before we headed over to the first Official Event. It was great to hook up with these guys again, some of which I hadn't seen in twenty years.

Here I am with Rick Sandoval (left) and Kris Robnett (right). I put Rick through a wall our sophomore year.

After dinner we headed over to the town bowling alley for the first event. The bowling alley, like the town, is small - six lanes! - but it was the perfect venue. I remember having a bowling segment in P.E. in sixth grade here, and it didn't seem like it had changed a bit.

Dean and I were having a great time.

It was really fun to see people again. I won't lie, it was also very gratifying to hear people say things like "You look exactly the same!" and "You look great!" I know I didn't have grey hair in high school but it's nice to hear it just the same.

After bowling I talked Dean into joining me at the dive bar between the bowling alley and the (now closed) theater I used to work at. When I was a kid, this bar was an Official Scary Place. I didn't even like to walk by it. So it was fun to go in and check it out. I also think I surprised some of my old classmates that I was interested in going to a dive bar to have a couple beers.

Here's a picture of the 117 in broad daylight.

So Dean and I walked into this place and headed to the end of the bar where there were a couple empty barstools. As we sit down I hear a "Hey!" from the corner. I'm thinking, oh boy, we sat in somebody's seat, I'm about to get beat up in this stupid bar over somebody's barstool.

I turned around and saw that it was another classmate, Rob "Stormy" Walker. See? Dive bars are good, you see old friends in them!

The next night was the big dinner event. Again, it was really fun to see people and talk to them about what was going on.

Here are the attending members of the WHS Class of 1985, plus one imposter - me.

And here's some of the gang. Left to right, Dean Thompson, me, Joel Decker, Mike Fredley, and Rick Sandoval.

After the dinner, a bunch of people went out to J.C. Cowboys to have a few beers and hang out. J.C. Cowboys was another one of those places I had never been - a cowboy bar west of town. I liked it! The beers were cheap and it would have been great if the band had taken longer breaks.

The next morning we drove around town a bit before we headed back to my Mom's in Oklahoma City. We went out to the drive-in where I was once held up, and I took this panoramic picture of the now reopened theater. Frankly it's looking a little rundown, but it is open.

This is the box office where it all went down, lo these many years ago.

So that was Weatherford. Will I be back there any time soon? Probably not. Am I glad that we went? Ab-so-freakin'lutely.