A Closer Look

Let’s take a closer look …

with Anthony Newcombe 

Note: Published with permission from WritePlus.biz. The below version may vary slightly from the original.

Date: Thursday May 12, 2022 

This month’s topic: Reunions, reunions, reunions, reunions 

We’re going to take a risk this month and discuss some of the main reasons why I won’t be attending any of the reunions I’ve been noticing in my email recently. I know summer is upon us and we’ve been out of school for quite a while, but I would like to discuss a few things that I know many others agree with but lack the indecency to share.

I don’t know about you, but all I see in my junk/social/promo mailboxes (about 30 of them) are invitations to attend this reunion or that reunion. I’m not going to reveal my exact age, but let’s just say most of them are from the pre-Internet age. 

And don’t get me wrong, if I could recall enjoying most of my experiences to the extent of some of those who are encouraging me to attend, I might drop some of my now commitments to fly-in and see some of the horrific sites and mild remembrances awaiting me. 

Let’s face it, it’s been a lonnnnnnnng time (as the old band Boston might say). Speaking of faces, that’s one of my biggest concerns with attending one of these. I recall attending one back when it was only 5 years, and I couldn’t believe where some of these faces ended up. I’m talking jowls around the knees stuff here. And even more gob smacking is when they spend a fortune to have some overpaid “scalpeler” (for lack of a better word) yank their face into some tightly wound Stitchcraft of sorts. 

Finally, I’m a little too forthright to pretend I don’t notice this stuff. I know I have more than my share of physical flaws (weight gain, hair loss, etc.), but I also know at least I resemble the same general species I was “back in the day.” Perhaps some of us don’t realize it, but it can be outright traumatic to see some of the sites at these reunions! So, the next time you wonder why some of us are incommunicado as far as reunions go, just break out this blog entry and take a glance from a reverse angle to see why it may not be on everyone’s top shelf this summer (and next decade’s shelf likewise!) 

Any thoughts? 

See you next month … or, to use and old one from the yearbook: “H.A.G.S.”  

-A.N. 

Profile

Anthony Newcombe is a 4-time entrepreneur, writer, narrator, and general business junkie who impersonates a mid-level handyman/ landscaper around the house on the weekends.