Reunions are a funny thing.

I’ve never understood why some people dread and fear the ‘reunion’. Be it a school reunion, a family reunion or as was the case for me on the weekend, the State Bank Griffith reunion; why would you not want to be a part of it?

On my last day at the State Bank, Jan '93

See I love a reunion. I have sentimentality running through my veins, along with a fare dose of nostalgia. I love this sort of shit. Any chance to remember the past or take a trip down memory lane and I am all over it like a rash (as you may have noticed from this blog!). If I wasn’t so disorganised and have such a short attention span I’d be organising all sorts of reunions for every other week.

State Bank circa '92

Reunions are this confusing mix of reliving stories from the past while trying to describe the present. You can literally jump from one time-zone to another in the space of a question. Reunions are like a time machine that zips back and forth. Stories from 1992 are mixed in with stories from 2011 and everything in between. “Do you remember…” “What do you do now…” “Whatever happened to…” “Didn’t you shag…” “You haven’t changed at all, have you had work done…”

When I first heard of the State Bank Griffith reunion I literally jumped with glee. I have such fond memories of near 20 years ago when I was Griffith’s worst, and possibly rudest, bank teller. I was instantly desperate, aching to catch up with all my old work buddies, or as I call them my Italian beauties. Jumped online and booked my little Rex flights home so I could be a part of it. Mum had found my old bank ties and name badge and I was all set to go.

Was frocking up for the big night when I suddenly got all nervous! This is very un-me. It had been 18 long years since I left the bank and a lot had changed for me in that time. Girls became boys, banking became publicity, Griffith had become Sydney. But that in a nutshell is the really cool thing about reunions - a lot has changed for EVERYONE! It’s the catching up that is important, the reconnecting and the reliving of a shared experience. Saturday night was truly joyous…

And there was cake!

The night went by unbelievably quickly and I kinda feel like I didn’t catch-up with anyone nearly enough. Crammed in a whole series of power-conversations where all involved had to summarise their life in under 2 mins. So much fun. And fuck it was funny! And the story-telling was brilliant. Now I was only with the bank for two short years in the early 90’s and the guests covered the 70’s through to 2001. I was a mere snapshot in a whole gallery of memories. For me, it was about two things… First, my Italian beauties!

Yes, I have a ponytail. '92

Now my ladies and I were all tellers at about the same time. Imagine walking into a bank and being greeted by us! Needless to say I never had to serve many men, they made a beeline for my beauties. Now in 2011 they are all happily married and slowly re-populating Griffith. It’s only a few years off before I can take their eldest children to their first nightclub. 18 years felt like a matter of months once I was back with my Italian beauties.

2011

Secondly, the night was all about White Oprah and Wyalong. Now there was a subtle shift here. 18 years ago they were my bosses and seemed older and much more mature. Now they are my friends, of the same generation, equals in every way. I love them and they made me laugh hysterically. HYS-terically! I kinda think that if we were strangers but in the same room anytime, anywhere we would naturally be drawn to each other. Possibly because we would be the loudest. When next we meet, we will be ‘ferretting’ (although still not sure what that means???), Wyalong is the events co-ordinator.

So to my fine colleagues who did such a fabulous job of organising, I sincerely thank you. I had an absolute ball. So good to take this stroll down memory lane, but even better to reconnect with old friends. Just goes to show that we all haven’t changed that much really. Circumstances may have, but not the reasons why we were friends in the first place.

I love reunions!

Carmella is and will always be one of the most special people I have ever met!