Steve Wacksman - Celebrating Decrepitude

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Celebrating Decrepitude

posted:August 2, 2006

The guy on the left is dreaming of moving to NY and becoming an illustrator. The guy on the right is dreaming of moving upstate and becoming a beekeeper.

I'm just back from "vacation"- I spent a week in Cincinnati, OH revisiting high school. It's twenty years later. Sure, I've put on a couple of pounds and lost more than a couple of hairs, but Mrs Wacksman remains a comely lass with a razor-sharp wit and I figured she could more than make up for whatever shortcomings, real or percieved, my former classmates saw in me.
All told the affair was fun, although the second night of events proved somewhat extraneous and might've dulled the otherwise lustrous memory. We were issued fans made from our Senior yearbook photos, a simultaneously amusing and depressing novelty, They did, however,prove useful- the thermometer in my breast pocket read a balmy 101 degrees.

Friends until the end. This picture was taken 26 minutes before the end.

Here I am pictured with my pal Doug. He became drunker and more beliggerent as the night wore on. Near the end he cursed me and slapped me on the forehead with an open palm when I admitted that I was feeling a little "go-home-ish".

Thanks to the watered-down cockktails I'd been nursing all night, I was able to refrain from showing him how we do it in Brooklyn, but only by a narrow sliver of sobriety, Sometimes I wonder why I let the years go by with so little reflection. This event will likely serve to remind me in the years to come.

I said vodka SODA! That's TONIC! Sheesh!

The divine Mrs W was there to support me throughout the reunion. This should come as no surprise, as she is a true gem and a port in a storm. Also, it was her idea that we attend this wretched event, so what was she gonna say?