But before the gathering, there was still a matter of the family get-together that would be taking place at my Mom’s house. It was the typical come-at-4, eat-at-5 affair. I ended up coming bearing bottles of soda a bit closer to 5pm than normal, as I just lost track of time a little bit at home. This promised to be a rather bittersweet holiday as it was the first one without Grandpa Murphy. In his honor we burned the candle bearing his image that was given to us by the funeral home.

Grandpa’s candle

Naturally, the food was incredible. We had turkey, ham, two varieties of green bean casserole (from Cathy), corn, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, Bev’s incredible Italian monkey bread, and tons of pies (including Darlene’s homemade pecan, cherry, and pumpkin and Sarah’s awesome salted caramel pie).

Bev tries out her amazing creation – Italian monkey bread

Mom digs into the sweet potato casserole as Bobby looks on

Ed is once again caught buttering his biscuit

The desserts. Yeah, the desserts.

I spent lots of time with Silas, who was asleep when he and Ashleigh arrived, as well as working some socializing with Chris into my hectic schedule. At one point Ashleigh fell asleep and Silas was grumpy so I had the task of entertaining him for about 45 minutes. It was pure pleasure to keep him enthralled. Eventually I did get down to the basement to play a few games of pocket billiards with Chris, after kicking the kids off of the table. It was a futile effort as I was playing like poo, so I had to submit Chris as the victor. Overall, it was terrific time and I ended staying until almost 8:30.

Debby and Tyler, now regularly wearing a safety helmet

Brittney and Doug get ready to depart for one of about 36 Thanksgiving dinners that they had to attend

Silas wakes up clad in an exceptionally accurate shirt

Joe, still reeling from the pain of recent auto accident, can’t keep awake in the face of the pain killers. Karen looks on with amusement.

Silas clearly knows something that Sarah doesn’t. It’s probably something about Chris.

Livi tries to make her Thanksgiving escape plans a reality

The games come out for a batch of the Murphy females

The men all seem enthralled with the football game. But Eric prefers pie.

Nikki and Jim after a hearty meal

The tryptophan sets in on Ashleigh

Silas makes a good case as to why exactly he needs this slender blue tube in his life

Allie and Abby couldn’t have given better smiles. I wonder what they want.

Livi joins her Tange-cousins

Adam was plenty busy with the Geico videos on YouTube… until they began to get inappropriate. Something about chicken.

Silas got a taste of pie on my finger and from then on wanted to eat my hand. No, I’m not flipping you off. Jerk.

Lackluster billiards from Abby and little Brad. We threw them off the table so that I could play even lacklusterer billiards.

Megan and Denise with some great smiles. I’m glad Denise is now able to keep her eyes open for the camera.

Sarah spent way too much time on this contraption

Silas finally gets tired of my finger and needs Mommy to feed him

In attendance at the Thanksgiving gala were: Diana & Tom, Cathy, Debby & Mike and Brad and Tyler, Mom & Bob, me, Ashleigh and Silas, Denise & Aaron and Adam and Megan, Bev & Ed, Susan & Charles and Sammy and Charley (arriving late following dinner with the Gelms), Jim & Jan and Nikki and Eric (coming late after having dinner with Jan’s family), Darlene & Bob, Brittney & Doug.

I got home right at 9pm, which was the time at which my company was scheduled to arrive. It was Ashleigh Heath’s last night in Ohio, so I consented to have a gathering of a few old high school friends at my house. Heidi and Mindy joined us, and Mindy brought along her daughter Taylor.

Mindy and Taylor arrived late however, because she was busy waiting in line at a retailer to bring me a special t-shirt. It seems that a previous discussion at one of Ashleigh’s luncheons yielded the fact that I date beautiful women despite wearing t-shirts with Elmo on them. I made it clear that I didn’t even own an Elmo shirt. They rectified that with one that also included one of my favorite phrases.

I’ll be wearing this on my next date

Also joining us for the evening was Wendy Luckenbill. She was a fellow Beavercreek ’90 graduated and our association dated all the way back to the late 1970′s when she and I attended Discovery House day care center together. You can read about some of those exploits here. Despite this fact, we really never socialized in junior high or high school, but we have been friends on Facebook since the early days in 2007 when I first joined. Wendy has had quite a successful career in Los Angeles, first working for NBC and now the Oprah Winfrey network.

With Wendy Luckenbill – of Discovery House fame

With the tunes of 1983 in the background, we had a great time over wine, beer, and cheese (Ashleigh would be furious if I didn’t mention the humboldt fog that she brought – which I’m fairly certain converts immediately to gas after entering your body) – as well as that incredible apple pie that she baked. After Heidi left, the evening started to wind down, so we watched Sixteen Candles as we flipped through the yearbook.

Ashleigh assumes the movie-watching position

Mindy, Wendy, me, and Ash – as the evening draws to an end

As far as holidays go, there wasn’t much more that I could ask for than to spend it with such a loving family, my Silas, and great friends. Well…one thing maybe.

2011 will continue…

The weekend after the funeral, I met up with old friend and co-worker Rachel Brehm on Saturday, October 22, in Columbus. We had a nice dinner together and chatted a few times afterward. Our encounter can be seen here. The next day, my Dad and Vicki took me out for a belated birthday lunch at the China Wok Buffet. Afterward I hung out at his house for a bit to enjoy Dad’s company and the company of his seemingly endless parade of cats. Holly was my favorite.

Thursday, October 27, saw my fourth return to Terry’s Turf Club, the Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives – featured eatery on the east side of Cincinnati. This time I took my friend and co-worker Shelly, to whom I had raved about this place since our first visit. It was a fun dinner and I returned to my first and original selection of the burger with mushroom and burgandy wine sauce…and of course, the filet mignon chili.

Back at Terry’s Turf Club – with Shelly and some giant eats

Ashleigh and Silas came over for a visit on Friday the 28th. I got to witness his new skill of clapping on cue. That kid looks cuter every time I see him. Heidi stopped over that Sunday to pick up some CDs that I had burnt for her. While she was here, I hired her to do some yardwork for that week. My front yard bushes had grown so out of control that I was fearing they might attack me. She did a great job.

Silas demonstrates clapping

I really missed the old days of taking Ashleigh and Briana around on Trick or Treat on Monday, October 31st. I handed out candy to about 40 visiting kids or so. And naturally, I ate about 40 candy bars. Don’t judge. They were the fun-size ones.

On Tuesday, November 1, I kicked off the new month by going out on my first official ‘date’ date following my break-up. Incidentally, I had lunch with Mom at Chick-fil-A that afternoon, but that wasn’t my date. I met up with a girl named Crystal at a nice bar called the Sidebar in the Oregon District. She was a nice girl and an assistant professor at Wright State, but it was clear that it wasn’t going anywhere. So we said goodbye and thanks for the lovely evening, but that was that.

I did lots of work in the basement that weekend, watched movies, and made some half-hearted attempts for some treadmill action – but the key was that I enjoyed life as a hermit. But Monday, my friend April – whom had recently moved back to the Dayton area from San Diego – and I met up for the first time since her return to have some Bad Juans and melted cheese at the Elsa’s on Linden. Afterward, we grabbed some wine and listened to some 80′s tunes back at my house.

Post-Bad-Juan April

But the best news was that my friend Ashleigh Heath had made her way back to Dayton from Raleigh, North Carolina, for her annual Thanksgiving visit to her Dad – who lives a couple of neighborhoods away from me. She would be in town for nearly three weeks, and kept me busy on several occasions, meeting up with her – along with other fellow Beavercreek High School grads.

We kicked off our meetings on Wednesday, November 9. She was also staying part of the time in Cincinnati with friends, so we met on my lunch hour at Panera. Our mutual BHS friend John Marshall also joined us for a nice visit. Ashleigh – ever the rebel – brought her own yogurt into the establishment. That evening, the other Ashleigh – my Ashleigh – brought Silas over for a visit. My usually loving boy was quite the grumpster that evening.

My first of several meeting with Ashleigh

John Marshall joins us at Panera

A grumpy Silas day

After trying to plan a get-together for a couple of months, on Thursday the 10th, I was finally able to meet up with my friend Dean Garrett for some dinner at Chick-fil-A and then some movie viewing back at my house. We checked out Too Many Women (The Boyfriends), Mighty Like a Moose (Charley Chase), and The Tree in a Test Tube (Laurel and Hardy). We had such a nice time that we met up again on that Saturday for another lunch at Chick-fil-A. My other date plans got cancelled for that weekend, so I just watched the Bengals end their winning streak. That seems to happen whenever I’m watching.

I had a busy night on Wednesday, November 16. My aunt Bev had been in charge of the family get-together to celebrate what would have been my Grandpa Murphy’s 88th birthday (which would have been on the 15th). She opted to go ahead with the gathering in his memory at the Marion’s on Shroyer. In attendance were Diana & Tom, Cathy, Debby & Mike and Brad and Tyler, Mom and me, Bev & Ed, Susan & Charles and Charley and Sam, Karen & Joe and Andrew, Abby, and Allie, Jim & Jan, Ben, Nikki and her friend and roommate Sam, Darlene & Bob, and Jake & Lauren. Bev and Diana made a couple of short speeches and Karen brought along a DVD she had assembled of Grandpa.

Bev and Allie tearfully watch Karen’s video of Grandpa

Jacob, Lauren, Bob, and Darlene

Mike, Tyler, Debby, young Brad, and Cathy

Sam, Nikki, Ben, Jan, and Jim

Susan, Sam, Ed, a hidden Abby, and Karen

Tom, Diana, me (with pizza – round 1), and Mom

Even though I had just eaten plenty of pizza, I went directly from Marion’s to Rocky’s Pizza Ring in Beavercreek. This was a frequent hangout for me when I was in Junior High. My friend Chris Demeter and I would ride our bikes here and gather with friends for pizza. To be honest, I couldn’t believe that this place was still open! I met up with Ashleigh, Heidi (and her kids Jayne and Madeline), Mindy Burger, and Daryl Roy. Heidi left early, I ate very small amounts of Mindy’s pizza, and then we all headed back to my house. We were joined there by Debra Prystaloski. Pulling out the yearbook became a must.

Heidi with pizza faces Jayne and Madeline

Mindy and I split a beer in the frostiest mugs in the world

Daryl, Ashleigh, Mindy, me, and Heidi – inside Rocky’s Pizza Ring

Things were pretty quiet until the week leading up to Thanksgiving – when Ashleigh Heath kept me really busy. It started on Monday, November 21. I was in the Norwood area for work and was consequently able to meet up with Ashleigh and another high school friend, Vanessa S., at an Ash-recommended bakery called the Bonbonerie. I hadn’t known Vanessa very well from high school, but it was a pleasure to ‘meet’ her. She is a very nice, funny, and talented gal who has a pretty cool blog that showcases her craftiness. We agreed that we’d have to meet up for lunch again sometime in Cincy. My Ashleigh and Silas came over that night and we had a nice dinner at Panera.

Meeting up with Vanessa

Ashleigh, me, and Vanessa in the Bonbonerie

The Panera Silas feeding

Silas reaches out

The next day, I met up for lunch with Mom at Chick-fil-A and then that night Ashleigh Heath came over for some wine and cheese and of course, The Karate Kid.

On Wednesday, November 23rd, I had the doctor give me my final treatment to burn the wart off of my finger. But more importantly, I went out with Ashleigh and Mindy that night to see Les Miserables at the Schuster Center. Before the show, we went out to eat at Sabai Asian Cuisine and Sushi Bar. I stuck with coconut soup and a split some sushi rolls with Ashleigh: the Bakery, the Playboy, and the Spicy Tuna. Mindy was a great big chicken when it came to sushi… or Thai food.

Ashleigh and Mindy have fun texting on my phone

The flaming Playboy. No, not me. The sushi on fire.

Sushi galore at Sabai

We got to the Schuster early enough to meet up with high school friend Jen Chislagi and her friend Shelly. They were stationed at the Citilites bar and we joined them for some exotic martini concoctions. I mostly refrained from alcohol, knowing that I had a very long play to sit through.

Pre-Les Mis martini madness

The Citilites gang and some unnecessary leaning from Shelly and Jen

I had seen this play previously in London, and although this production wasn’t quite as spectacular, I enjoyed it very much – despite having to struggle to keep my eyes open and the distracting noises that Ashleigh would periodically make that sounded like a cross between a hiccup and a duck getting skinned alive. After the show, after going the wrong way on the highway,  the three of us went back to my place to watch The Muppet Movie – and all three of us ended up falling asleep.

After the show at the Schuster, now all awake

We’d have one more opportunity to get together while Ashleigh was still in town, but this would take place on Thanksgiving – the next day – and thus will be chronicled accordingly in the Thanksgiving posting…

Coming up next: Turkey Day 2011…

She eventually became a cashier and we both continued to share the same employer until I was re-located to the Spinning Road store at the beginning of 1997. She stayed on for another year or two and eventually took a job as a waitress at Frisch’s near Wright State University – which was also near where I was working. Running into her during her brief tenure there in about 1999 was the last time I had seen her.

During the great MySpace craze of 2007, I looked her up on a whim and we began a correspondence that spilled over into Facebook. We had actually tried to meet up once while I was in Columbus – where she was currently residing – in 2008, but plans fell through. Being a traveler at heart, she would often receive texts from me sending greetings while in the midst of some road trip or other.

As I began communicating again with Rachel, she began to tell me her various projects in the art world, and I was always amazed at her great ideas and her creativity. In fact, she has her own business called MisHappenings (which you can check out here), where she shares her musings and makes some of her artwork available for purchase.

Rachel and I finally had the chance to meet up for the first time in at least a dozen years, when I trekked up to Columbus and took her out to eat at Matt the Miller’s Tavern on Saturday, October 22, 2011, where we were also joined by her friend Kelley for a bit. There was a lot of catching up to do, a bit of reminiscing about life at the store, and discussing the philosophies of life. The adorableness hadn’t abated one iota. And she was every bit as smart and vivacious as ever.

It was great to see Rachel and I look forward to the next time we can meet up again.

2011 will continue…

As for Dean himself, I recall that he was a very kind young man. I say the word young now because I have since found out that he was only 18 years old and fresh out of high school when he was counselor during my first week of camp. But then, I just thought that he was one of the adults charged with taking care of us and molding our minds. Kind, patient, and funny would words I’d use to describe him back then. I was only nine and I can say that I didn’t feel like I was a pesky kid when I was around Dean and a few other counselors, with whom I hung out with once camp had ended and all of the other kids had gone home.

Although those words all still apply to Dean today, after meeting up with him for the first time in at least 27 years on Saturday, June 4, 2011, I’d probably add a few: spiritual, intelligent, interesting, thoughtful, and motivational are some that come to mind.

So how did this reunion come to be, you might ask? Same as they all do these days, I suppose: Facebook. On a whim, I looked for many of my camp friends and counselors and immediately recognized Dean Garrett when I saw his profile picture. Understanding that he might need a memory-prod before he ever could recall me, I sent him a note asking if he had in fact been the Woodland Altars counselor. He responded affirmatively.

Sometime over the next few months, he checked out some of my photo albums and noted that many of my ‘celebrity encounters’ were with performers who were well-known and respected by him. He also realized my love of the Our Gang Comedies, and being a fan himself, said that he’d like to talk about some of our common interests.

Our meeting finally came after we had discussed through email attending the same Superman event in Metropolis, Illinois. So we met on that fabled Saturday at Chick-fil-A in Beavercreek, and spent a whopping six hours chatting about life, religion, and common interests: which had now grown into the Laurel and Hardy, classic sitcom, and United States Presidents realm. I also learned that he was still with the Church of the Bretheren, now an ordained minister who often preaches at the Poplar Grove Church of the Brethren.

At the end of our lunch – which had stretched to dinnertime – we said our goodbyes, knowing full well that we’d be seeing each other less than a week later as we embarked on a road trip together, one that would encompass not only our love of Superman and pop culture, but the historical side of our interests as well.

Return to June 2011… 

Continue to the next reunion…

The reason for that was that by the time we had reached the Junior High age, most of the campers had graduated from Lodge Camp into some of the more adventurous, outdoor camps – particularly the boys. So for this particular week at camp, we had only three boys in entire Junior High Lodge Camp. The girls outnumbered us by more than four to one.

Jill Geaslen, a member of the Salem Church of the Brethren, was one of the girls present during this particular week. She and a friend of hers came from Arcanum, Ohio, late on the first Sunday of the camp. In fact, I recall hearing them come in and passing our dormitory after we had already put out out lights. I met her the next day and she promptly began her flirtation with… David Wiley! He was the other boy in my group. So they dated for a day or so.

Eventually, like on Tuesday, she had taken a fancy to me and we began our relationship, which consisted of talking to each other quite a bit. There was almost a moment when we kissed, but somehow the moment escaped us. But what I do recall was that Jill was a very funny girl with a dry sense of humor. And best of all, she called me sir. In fact, she called everybody sir – ala Marcie from Peanuts.

I actually tracked down Jill a few years ago on Facebook. She was married so I had to do my usual bit of sneaky research to find her whereabouts (via Classmates.com). We had chatted briefly now and then online, exchanged a few notes, and also marveled out some of the friends that we had had in common, and not just ones from camp. Of course, she knew Lee McAdams from camp, but she knew my friends Lance and Missy from going to Dayton Christian High School.

In the end, what finally brought us together was that I bought some girl scout cookies from her daughter Kearstine. This was my ploy at finally getting a face-to-face meeting and a photo op with my very first girlfriend. We met at the McDonalds in Huber Heights on Sunday, March 6, 2011. In a bit of poetic irony, my relatively new girlfriend Jamie went along with me. Jill brought Kearstine, who was quite a hoot in her own right. Kearstine asked great probing questions and we learned that being forced to eat mustard was her punishment when she spoke dirty words.

Kearstine and Jill

Jill was cool as can be as well. We had a great time chatting about life and the adoption of Kearstine that she and her husband Chris had obtained. She remembered very little about our camp experiences, so I’m sure that I was less memorable than she was. Which is why she probably broke up with me via letter a couple weeks after we got home. But who can blame her? There was a big world out there to explore without being tied down in a pre-teen long distance relationship.

She may not recall this, but she did try to get back together a few months later though. We had another Youth function at one of the local Church of the Brethren churches and we saw each other briefly. I must have blossomed a bit, because then she became interested again. But by that time, I probably had another three or four dozen gals that I was eyeballing around Ankeney Junior High, none of which I ever dated. Not once.  

Roughly 27 years later…

I was trying to get  Jill to track down the only photo that I had ever had of her: her sixth grade school photo. But the softball pic at the top was the best she could come up with. It was taken the Spring before our summer camp excursion.

Jill and Kearstine promised to invite us over sometime for another visit, so we’ll see if she makes good on that…or maybe she’ll break it off once again.

Continue with 2011…

Continue to the next reunion…