Among those not in attendance: two reputed drunks and a fella who slipped into schizophrenia. One of my best high school buddies (another lawyer) couldn't make it because of some other commitment. Probably a good thing. If he'd been there, my bar tab would have tripled.

Where many men would talk of work, the women often talked about their children (and yikes! -- grandchildren.) My favorite story: the couple who met in college while getting arrested at a protest.

I wound up spending a lot of time with an old tomboy buddy, and I can't tell you how many people said "Oh, I knew you two would wind up together." We were the only childless people there, with plenty of divorces and other secrets to boot. Hell, maybe we should have wound up together. I could have done far worse.

Next > > >