Above: Julie Hollander Kupsov, Lesley Pearl and Joanna Rubiner do the girl-talk thing. Left: Tables were packed and friendships rekindled at West Bloomfield High School's 10- year reunion. =Memory LESLEY PEARL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS I didn't create the fastest burn- ing cigarette paper. I didn't score a position as fashion ed- itor for Vogue or boast a buffed body to show off as in Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. I didn't even have a dark-yet-fas- cinating career as a professional hitman like John Cusack in M THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Grosse Pointe Blank. So when my classmates ex- pressed their shock that I re- turned to West Bloomfield for my 10-year high-school reunion, I had to share in their surprise. After all, I wasn't the typical "co-ed." Somewhere after Adat Shalom nursery school and cheerleading practice, I developed a "rebellious streak." I spent prom night danc- ing in a gay bar and walked through commencement cere- monies in Salvation Army duds and blue lipstick. When I arrived in San Fran- cisco three years ago, I felt like I was finally home. Like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the Land of the Misfit Toys, I had ar- rived. Lesley Pearl, a professional fund-raiser in San Francisco, is a former staff writer for the Detroit Jewish News. And yet, when I received the in- vitation to my 10-year West Bloomfield High School reunion, I was drawn back to the Midwest. I had visions of Orchard Lake Road when it was still two lanes wide and late nights at the Village Place drinking hazelnut coffee so weak I could read the newspaper through it. I wondered, was Lisa Paulsen still skinny? Whatever happened to Nicole Weingarden, the girl with whom I shared a best-friends jewelry charm? And was it true that Joanna Rubiner was dating Cousin Oliver from "The Brady Bunch"? July 12 at the Novi Hilton, I got my answers. Yes, Lisa is still skinny. And gorgeous. Nicole is married and lives in Chicago. And Joanna was dating Cousin Oliver, but now they're just friends. That's not all I found out. I discovered that Rodney Wil- son still has a body to rival fitness trainer Tony Little's. I learned that Michelle Gurvitz is a doctor in Los Angeles, and Linda Rosen- feld works as a film and video pro- ducer and writer in Ferndale. More importantly, I learned that most of us had grown up. A former Detroiter "meets her demons" at a 10-year high-school reunion. ne As I walked into the hotel with my best friend Julie Hollander Kupsov and her husband, I once again became a 16-year-old — smoking a cigarette in an effort to hide the fear and nervousness of possible peer rejection. I'm not wealthy. I'm not married. All Pve got to show for the past 10 years is that I "got out." Or so I thought. I had to stifle the urge to get the hell out, jump on a plane and go ous," "fund-raising — sounds right back to San Francisco without up your alley," and "You look won- ever showing my face. And yet, I'd derful." (No more pink hair, I ex- traveled more than 3,000 miles to plained.) see these people. I grabbed Julie's No one asked if I was married hand and decided to face my or how much money I make. The demons. . lack of a diamond on my left hand My first glimpse was of Heather and funky platform shoes proba- Silles, whom I had roller-skated bly made those questions moot. with at Bonaventure every Sat- But looking back, no one seemed urday in fourth grade. Her lips to ask those questions of anyone. curled into a smile, and she threw We all were more interested in her arms around me. sharing our little victories and "My mother asked if you would tripping down memory lane with be here. I told her I didn't know," inside jokes and nicknames. she said, adding, "I'm glad you Most of us have done well for are." I heard those words a lot ourselves. Some have less hair, throughout the evening, along many boast a few more wrinkles. with "San Francisco — Pm so jeal- And yet, it seems, most of us have Left: Tah dah! Lesley Pearl and Rachel Plecas show off their class sweatshirt. grown into ourselves and look, and feel, better than ever. For most of us, high school was not the pinnacle. In fact, it was an awkward beginning of life yet to come, fraught mostly with pain, angst and growth. But high school was also marked with friendships which seemed to buffer all of that. And those connections are what we come back for. Ten years after graduation I know that San Francisco is my home. West Bloomfield is where I come from. It's where I still re- turn — a little older, a bit gentler. I come back to remember who I was, and glory in who I am. ❑