reunions (of sorts)

over the last couple of days i’ve had two reunions with people i’ve not seen for different amounts of times and for different reasons.
the first was at dinner on sunday, where i met up with vance and julie and their two children and julie’s mom at amazon grill on kirby. they were in town over the holidays and made plans to see a few people they hadn’t seen in a long time. i knew vance from a&m and had hung out with them a few times during the mid to late 90’s, but i hadn’t seen them since like 1999 or something crazy. they have been living in colorado for the last number of years and have two children now. i must say their 5 month old daughter is really a beautiful child (and i’m not saying that just because vance reads my blog from time to time ;). it was cool to meet their son as well, whom i’ve never actually met. (did i mention they pick cool names for their children?) anyway, it was an enjoyable but short-lived time. they offered their place for me to stay if i ever made it to colorado, and i hope they were serious because it’s possible the next big motorcycle trip i go on may be up that way.
the second reunion occurred monday evening. i went down to league city and hung out with jennifer and her kids. i’d not seen her or them since she decided she didn’t think i’m exactly the right kind of guy she’s looking for and ended our dating relationship (back in june of this year). but she still thinks i’m a good guy, and her kids like me. anyway, i went down there because i’d decided i liked her kids and missed hanging out with them and wanted to get them xmas presents (just gift cards to toys’r’us). they were excited to see me and pretty quickly slipped back into the same mode as when i was going down there regularly. they’re really great kids. at one point while horsing around, the head of one of her sons slammed into my nose. he claimed my nose was hard, but his head got the better end of the deal, most definitely. i didn’t (as i had feared) wake up the next morning with much of a bruise across the bridge of my nose, but it still hurts a day later. i also evidently chipped a sliver of enamel off of one of my teeth during all of this.
also, as i fully expected i still have feelings for jennifer (which is a big part of the reason i had to keep my distance after she called things off), so i doubt i’ll be visiting as friends very often — i don’t think i can take hanging out as friends with the constant underlying hope that at some point maybe we could start dating again…or wrestling with my one-sided feelings. i already went through that with her during my junior high and high school years (and at least some of college). i’m not even going to deny that her analysis of the situation might not be accurate, but it doesn’t change the feelings i have. still, i really do miss playing with and talking to her kids. and i think they miss me some too.
thus ends my reunion stories.