Teddy's reunion

We spent the weekend in Connecticut so we could go to Ted's High School Reunion on Friday night, and also visit with Ted's family, and have a birthday party for Mo with our East Coast friends.  We had talked about the possibility of attending the reunion months ago but Ted thought it might be too hard or weird - seeing people that he hasn't seen in so long, having to update them about his life in short form (ie- What are you doing?  Are you married?  Do you guys have any kids?  How many?), then getting into an uncomfortable conversation with apathetic listeners about our Maxie.  He had pretty much decided against going.

Then, he found out that a bunch of his best friends would be there and that the
"official reunion" had been cancelled.  Instead, people would just be meeting at a bar on the water that he liked.  It sounded much less formal and he decided that he wanted to go too. I think that was really brave.  I am not sure if I ever want to go to another one of my high school reunions and there were only 50 something girls in my class.  Ted's class had over 400 people in it. 

I am so glad that we decided to go.  Ted was apparently really well-liked in high school.  Most people recognized Teddy and came over to him to give him big hugs and talk to him.  People kept telling me how much they love him, how friendly he always was in high school and my personal favorite - How he just "wasn't an a**hole".  I kept hearing how "Everyone loves Teddy!".  One woman even told me how HOT she thought Ted was looking!  I loved it.  Ted looked like he was having the time of his life.

And - I think most people knew about our loss.  I am sure not everyone did but there were a lot of people who told us how sorry they were to hear about Max.  One of Ted's friends said he was so sorry to bring it up because he didn't want me to have to think about it.  "I am never not thinking about it". I told him.  I liked that he brought it up.  I met a woman in line for the bathroom who said how much she loves my husband and mother-in-law.  Then she told me how beautiful our boys are and that of course she knew about what had happened to Maxie and how sorry she was.  I even met a few of my blog readers!  It was nice to be able to be ourselves.

These are the only two photos I have from the evening, taken by Ted's classmate, Kirstin:
 Jeff and Teddy

 Kirstin and Abby

My oldest friend, Sigalle, moved to Fairfield, CT from LA last year, and was my date to the reunion.  She is an awesome sport.  We had a really good time.  We were waved to from across the bar and approached by graduates of the class of 93 who weren't sure if they remembered us or not.  We heard lots of people's stories and tried to help the nervous attendees take the edge off.  We spent most of the night laughing.  It was really a lot of fun.

I am not at all surprised about how well liked Teddy is and was.  He is an outstanding human being - warm, caring, friendly, funny and totally not an a**hole!  I love you Teddy!!!!  And I really enjoyed your high school reunion too!

1 comment

Sig said...

Thank you for allowing me to be your date. I'm lucky and grateful to call you my oldest friend and most treasured friends. It was terrific (and not surprising in the least bit) to be witness to Ted's fan club. I'm president of that club after all. Mo and Max may have the most amazing parents I know. I'm sure of it.
With love...