Tag: Nostalgia

A Year in MINIons- MINIon #1852

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Bruce

1852Well folks, today is the last day of the Indiana State Fair. For the record, I am not a country boy (although I think I could sing “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” by John Denver or at least the chorus).  People who have met me usually discover this within seconds.  I was raised in the California  suburbs of the late 70’s and early 80’s.  Nowhere near a farm, or farm stuff.  During 3rd grade we did have enough pets to probably be a small farm (dogs, cats, guinea pigs, chickens, goats, rabbits…).  It was at this time I was in 4-H.  Yes, I wore the green hat and clip on tie and raised rabbits.  We had over 100 rabbits and at the time I could tell all the various breeds apart.  Now? not so much.  While in 4-H I helped show rabbits at various fairs around the greater Bay Area.  We even had a few Grand Champions in our little nest (mostly French lops if I remember correctly).  Today, I think I’ve been to the Indiana State Fair maybe twice… could be three times.  I go and look at the rabbits, then wander around to see everything else.  Sue’s even entered something in the State Fair, she won a blue ribbon for a lovely needlework piece (she’s crafty like that).  Did I go this year? Nope.

As I pondered about MINIon #1852 I thought about having him hold a pitchfork with some hay on it… nope, too cliche. Then I thought about having him hold something fried on a stick… nope. I couldn’t get my fried Twinkie to not look like a fried Snickers.  So I settled on a dutch rabbit, the kind most kids find in a basket Easter morning…

So this was how the evening ended for me.  I had gone into the event with high expectations of rekindling old friendships just to discover that my memories of those friendships had left out a few pesky details (like they were all in my head).  I learned a lot about myself reflecting on high school.  There were some good times, but for me these were not my “glory days.”  Especially since I really didn’t do anything in High School that was very interesting, I was the tag along.

After the class picture (we actually had two and I did scan both groups looking for a friendly face- never saw the actual fished photograph) I walked out of the reunion and we did head out to a local pub for some comfort food, without the pressure of the reunion and being “on” things were a lot better.  I arranged to see my brother the next day and we had a great time hanging out, I avoided the “family picnic” set up for the reunion.  I may have missed some friends who couldn’t make it the night before, but I didn’t want to press my luck and end up ignored and disappointed.  As far as I know my class did not have a 25th reunion.

By the time you read this my class will have celebrated their 30th Reunion, something I chose not to attend.  I had a bag full of excuses, but really I feel I learned my lesson at the 20th.  I hope everyone had fun.  After looking at the photos it looks like everyone did & I would have felt the same way I did at the 20th.

Sorry if it seems like I was whining… I do have a few stories like this that will get shared at some point, when I’m ready- I like to say doing a comic strip is cheaper than therapy.  I promise the next arc will be more monkey filled fun and games…  but it may not start until Monday, so see you then!

I believe it was Wolf who said “You can’t go home again- because then they’ll arrest you over that misunderstanding with the pigs.”
One thing I noticed was when I talked to someone who I barely remembered (sorry- more on that later), once they finished telling me what they had been doing for the past 20 years, they immediately cut off the conversation to go catch up with someone else.  As I wandered the Reunion I kept looking for the people I had strong memories of, the people I spent time with… they were nowhere to be seen.
So yes, I was a little nervous and ended up forgetting a few things.  Fortunately I was able to get a nice sport coat off the rack for the event… My parents even paid for it which was very nice.  The big question – Was I ready to actually face my reunion?  As an introvert I tend to shun these sorts of things, but the pull of nostalgia is strong.
I joke that when I started this comic strip it was a “biocomic.” It was going to tell the story of my life and adventures, then I realized my life was really boring… Sometimes I decide that I need to at least tell a story based on some crazy version of reality.  This arc is one of those.  Recently I received an invitation to my High School Reunion.  While I pondered the need for reunions in this age of social media I also thought about the last reunion I went to, this is that story (with the addition of Cecil).