A Requiem for Michael Jackson -- or -- The College Reunion Weekend

What is it about that Thomas Wolfe guy? You can't go home again? Of course you can! There is a weird phenomenon that occurs when two or more college friends reunite after many years -- if that isn't going "home" again, I don't know what is.

Instead of going to a shrink, I think middle-aged people like us just need to reconnect with the people who helped shape the person we ended up becoming. People you don't see very often anymore, but people that when you do see them - -end up making you feel better about yourself, about them, and about the world in general.

This weekend, we got together after way too many years. It happened as a fluke. If we had really worked to plan it, inevitably it would not have been what it was. And what it was, was a Laugh Fest, a Bitch Session, and perhaps most importantly -- a Requiem for the Gloved One. Yes, just as they did in The Big Chill, we had a soundtrack for the weekend -- The Essential Michael Jackson three disc set. ($15 at Target - -but sold out now. Too bad!! Shouldn't have waited, Cindy. A lesson for all of us).

Now, say what you will about Michael, but he also helped raise and shape us. We are the same age, after all, and many formative moments occurred to his voice over the last four decades. Some of us can imitate his moves (great moonwalk Brab!) and I tried to imitate his voice (just the little weird sounds, I'm not quite there, but still practicing, in case anyone was wondering), and many of us have the same memory of dancing to "Rock With You" so it was fitting that the weekend revolved as much around him as it did around us.

And thanks to Durn and her magic "polarized" hands, we all came away feeling less stressed. (Thanks for the neck massage, babes. I think you have a great future in holistic medicine and everything that goes into it. Let's just keep it between us that, of course, I was certainly the most stressed. The rest of them are just whiners).

Now everyone is back from whence they came -- Nashville by way of Lancaster, Michigan (a good buckeye hates to even type those letters), Columbus, etc....but thanks to the magic of social media and the inevitable Michael Jackson breaking news (right now CNN is reporting that Latoya says Michael was murdered. I thought Latoya was Michael!), we are still bound together. Love you guys. Love you, gloved one. Here's to us!