St. Mary's Hornets Reunion

Some months ago, some chatter amongst my middle school classmates sparked interest in a 15 year reunion. I hadn't been in Southeast Texas since I moved away in 1994 so I thought it'd be great to go back and check out my old stomping grounds. I'm ultimately glad my family moved from Orange, because the options in the area were limited, but there were definitely many great things about the Golden Triangle that I missed.

From back to front, about half the class 0f 1994: Amanda, Nicole, me, Tommy, Stephen, Kate, Gabrielle, Carrie, Lisa, Sendy, Julie, Cecily, Dolores. I was the only one who wasn't married, engaged, or with child. I was disappointed that more of the boys didn't show up, but I still had a great time with everyone.

This is Stephen, me and Tommy. We did a lot together back in the day (school, student council, honor society, soccer, boy scouts, track)  and we were very mischievious together. We had a great time remembering some of the trouble we made. We (along with some other kids)  grew up in a rare environment that left us with entire summers days to goof off in the safe confines of our neighborbood, the golf course, and the woods. We also realized that some of our goofing off may have consisted of light felonies.

The school looked a little different in the front, thanks to the addition of a new technology center. The rest of the outside looked the same. We couldn't get in to look around. We do believe the electrical sytem has recovered from our little experiment involving a paper clip and eraser.

This is Stephen's house. He's with his fiance Genevieve. Stephen said it looked mostly the same, except for the white garage.

This is Tommy' house. A lot of our devilish brainstorming happened here. I'm not sure what the Statute of Limitations is in Texas, so I'm just going to keep our deeds secret for now.

This is Mark's house. While he wasn't part of our St. Mary's crew, he's one of my best friends from Orange who actually lives nearby in Manhattan Beach. I spent many nights here.

This was my house. There used to be 6 pine trees that towered over 200 feet, but Hurricane Rita destroyed them. In fact, one of the most distinguishable characteristics of Orange was all the pine trees, but now there are very few left. I remember my yard being much bigger because I used to have to mow it but now it's not that grand. Overall, the neighborhood definitely looks older and a little bit worn down.  Word is that house prices in the area are very low and some less than desirable characters have moved into the area.

It was good to be back in the old neighborhood. We also drove around city hall, the county court house (the site of some Klan rallies when I was a kid), my old soccer fields, and chemical row. The notorious smell of chemical plants and swamp land was definitely present. The people were still incredibly friendly, and the Cajun meal we had was really good. We also ran into Mr. Byers and Doctor Ruttledge. Both are doing great.

Totally unrelated to the purpose of my trip, was a visit by my beloved Galaxy to face the Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium. The match was pretty dull, but it helped L.A. secure the Western Conference title. Robertson stadium is actually a good spot to catch a match.