WARNING! the photo below may burn your eyes

Last week I had lunch with my mom, my aunt and my aunt's friend. My aunt produced a photo that my cousin had found at her house not too long ago. The photo was taken at the Charleston airport in August 1987 on the day that I left to be an exchange student in Australia. The photo obviously dates me. Don't laugh - I don't need you to tell me I had the big, bad perm that a lot of people were sporting in small-town USA in the 80s. Trust me: I know now that it looked awful. (my cousin Brad, me, Jimmy, Stephen, Todd, and Dara)

Anyway, I showed the picture to Mac yesterday and asked him if he recognized anybody in the photo. He had no idea. (He shouldn't feel bad, I guess, because my own mother insisted that could not be me in the photo.) When I told him that was me in the front, he laughed and told me I looked ridiculous. He told me my hair looked awful and asked if this picture was taken in the 60s. I should put him on talking restriction.

Then I pointed out Jimmy in the photo, who, let's admit, looks a little ridiculous too, right? Mac continues to suffer from hero worship for his father and he loved everything about Jimmy in the photo. He loved how long Jimmy's legs looked, he commented favorably on those plaid shorts, he thought the long hair was cool. You get the picture.

I asked him if he recognized anybody else and he immediately pointed out Jimmy's oldest and dearest friend Stephen, which obviously validates Stephen being named "Least Changed" at our 20th class reunion last summer.

Stephen might be thankful for the "Least Changed" vote, but I, for one, will gladly go for "Most Changed" if the look in this photo is what I'm getting away from!