Skipping the Montour High School Reunion

On the Friday night following Thanksgiving I skipped my Montour High School reunion. I was in town, I had zero plans for the night but I still didn’t go. Why?

Probably because as an adult I finally know myself. I know that while I love the idea of a high school reunion, actually showing up sounds horrible.

This has nothing to do with my former classmates. They’re great. I just hate social gatherings in general. I’m a bit of a recluse.

Back in the day I didn’t hang out with the students unless I was performing with them (i.e. soccer games, the school musical, or band concerts).  I only went to two dances—prom and homecoming. That was mostly for my mom because I thought she deserved a “normal” daughter for a change.

I’m an extrovert and a hermit.  

I’m kind of an oxymoron. I like to think I’m not a moron. Either way, crowds frighten me.

I would rather spend an entire day pretending to spend time with people than actually doing it. And I think I actually accomplished that goal back in high school.

For example, young Gabby logged more hours with the students of Bayside High (the fictional high school on the television series: Saved by the Bell) than I did with my own classmates.

Every morning before school and every afternoon after school I watched old “Bell” episodes on the boob tube.  I knew more about the characters: Zach, Slater, Kelly, Jesse, Lisa and Screech than any of my actual classmates.

I also remember voting for fictional Zach Morris as Prom King, both to be a punk, moreover, because I believed it to be true.

I know. I’m odd.

In a weird twist of fate however, I do think I attended a class reunion of sorts.

The Friday before my real reunion occurred, I was in Calgary, Canada performing at a comedy club called The Laugh Shop. The headliner for the night was Dustin Dimond (the actor who played the character Screech on “Bell.”

After the show a group of us hung out in the hotel until 4 in the morning. We talked about nothing except Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figures and old Saved by the Bell episodes.

To me, that was a more fitting high school reunion for Gab.

Me and Samuel “Screech” Powers catching up on all things Bayside High.

Partying with Screech was a bit surreal, which is probably why I had more fun than a real reunion would have been.

Thanks to Facebook  I was able to view photos from my real class reunion. In fact, isn’t Facebook just a virtual class reunion?

It looked like a really nice event. I wish I could be a more normal person who enjoys such things, but in the end, I’m me, a woman who thinks TV characters are her real friends, and that real people are fictional characters from the novel of life.

Bayside High forever! I mean, Montour.

I mean, both.