2A 1 JL 4, 2008 BULLETIN FROM THE BUBBLE Reeling in the Years Trip down memory lane not so special Last week- end I went to Amarillo for my hus- band’s 20-year high school reunion. Since many of them had been together since preschool, it was a 48-hour flashback of their lives. We drove by the track where hundreds of finish-line photos had been snapped. I saw the ‘Wienerschnitzel where his, friend once danced on the counter and mooned the drive-thru patrons. I saw the dumpster behind the ‘Toot ‘n Totem convenience store, the backdrop for a now infamous fight story. “And I went to the country club where he took cotil- lion and spent summers by the pool with pals. Twas already border- ing on suicidal from a small town overdose when I realized that every- where we went during the reunion weekend we ran into a parent of a class of "88 student, now a grand- parent, still living in the panhandle, After introduc tions to spouses were over and the 60-something was out of sight, someone in the group would offer the scoop. We would find out ifthe mom we just met was the one who allowed wild parties or the one who drank too much, Rot a area Merritt Patterson Cities is like a small town, ‘everyone knows everyone and one day when I'm in my 60s, the summary of my quirks will be blurted out by a kid currently under the age of ten who plays swith my kids, Not that any ‘kid from the Park Cities ever moves away, but if they did they'd have plenty to show their spouse on just such a weekend, In 33, ‘years, my son can take his wife to Goft’s so she can sinkher teeth into the jticy perfection he's been telling. her about. I wonder if in 2039 my daughter will still go be- hind the counter at Kuby's to ask what kind of cook- ies they have that day. She can tell her husband she went there everyday after school for a glass of milk in. a cofice cup and she'd only practice reading flash cards with her favorite waitress, not Hier mother. Her big sister will no doubt stand in front of the elementary school and tell about the ugly por- tables that once served as her classroom. Across the street she and her friends ‘ean reminisce about their first time off the high dive at the UP Pool and the nutritious lunches at the ‘snack shack consisting of a slightly damp hotdog and cotton candy. Her friend Brooks can tell their spouses about the time she fell in the lake at that an a ar ee a tata like a sea-monster, But all of the warm and fuzzy thoughts about what their walk down memory line would sound like had been tainted. I pictured myself running into my daughter's friend Maddie while she’s back in town for the Class of 2016 HPHS reunion. She'd probably be gorgeous, wearing a quad strand of pearls and a pair of Gucci pumps and as soon as I walked away she'd tell her husband that 1 was the neurotic germ freak who wrote a col- umn that sometimes left the community divided on who they should hate more: the Park Cities People columnist or key members of Al-Qaeda. For a few days after the reunion I tried to look at the kids running in and out of my house for play dates as a chance to change what will be said about me in 30 years. But 1 couldn't keep it up so 1 have a “Plan B” I'll blow it off for now but when the time comes for them to reflect on which par- ent was cool, I'll throw in the Soulja Boy CD and distract them with steamy stories they never knew about other neighborhood parents, I'l give them all the dirt that they'll finally be old enough to appre- ciate. It will be'a second chance to be a popular mom without all of the ‘hee aieale haan __ PARK CITIE: S PEOPLE