Brent Worley Blog

I can honestly say one thing about my 10 year reunion:

I am glad I went.

At first, I was very skeptical about going. Most of my close friends in high school I had kept up with (although not as much as I probably could have or should have), and the rest of my close friends in high school were either from the class above or the class below.

But I was glad I went.

I got to see both of my non-frat college roomates (Garth Johnson, who was our class valedictorian, and Drew Keller, a musician friend of mine and my roommate from our freshman year at the University of Central Arkansas). Several other good friends were there too.

Friday night was a family night at the park. Essentially, that means that if you have kids you are chasing them down instead of getting to socialize. It was not that great of a time, other than seeing who all was likely to show up for the weekend. I talked to a few people I had not seen in a while, some that I see around, and, just like in high school, did not speak with many that I never spoke with.

A highlight was getting to spend time with our good friends from Mississippi (not the Memphis area, in case you are reading this), Buster and Amanda Harris. Buster was one of three people I was extremely close to in high school. We still get to hang out several times each year. They crashed at our house Friday night. We stayed up too late talking (around 2am we finally decided it was time to crash, since had had to direct a band at a Junior High Band camp the next morning). Its always a great time getting to spend time with them.

Saturday night, though, was the best part. No kids, marginal food (well, not that bad of food at least), and a chance to chill and get caught up with many people I talked to in high school that I barely recognize now. In fact, it took me half the night to recognize someone that was in band with us in high school. Others I remember quite well.

After eating, we decided to hang out on the deck at Eagle View and enjoy a very nice summer evening (which is rare here in Arkansas). Buster, Amanda, my wife April, and April Tarno (a very close and dear friend from high school and beyond), and I had a lot of catching up and reminiscing to do. We talked about the good times, the people that were there, and more about the people who were not there that we expected to be there. In fact, there were a ton of people that we were expecting to see that live near that did not show.

And of course, some that we are glad that did not show.

I owe showing up to Buster and April (Tarno, not my wife). If she had not called me Tuesday and Buster not talked to me about going Wednesday, I probably would have missed out on a good time.

So class of 1998, we’ll see most of you again in another 10 years. Hopefully, this time I’ll get a chance to talk to a few more of you.