I first met Mike Minges in our tenth grade gym class in 1987. He was an average, normal-looking and normal-acting guy with a good sense of humor. He was always nice to everyone around him and well-liked by all the other students. There was no hidden agenda or inherent weirdness that characterized many of my friends at the time. Just a clean-cut boy from Beavercreek, Ohio - not prone to getting into too much trouble. But he laughed at my jokes, and I liked that.
We talked now and again in class and this led to him inviting me to his house for a weekend-party-while-his-parents-were-out-of-town. This turned out to be the first of many of such house parties that I attended during my high school years and this one was certainly one of the biggest and most fun. I still recall the layout of the house, the drunken melee of so many of my high school chums, Mike’s brother going around preaching out of the Bible, the cops showing up, and me spending the night. But the real clincher was how Mike ended up getting sick and vomiting up french fries all over his downstairs bathroom floor.
Mike and I remained friends all through high school, although we seldom socialized outside of our classes. Coincidentally, he began dating my old sweetheart Jackie Moore during the Summer before our Senior year. They didn’t meet through me, though. They met up at McDonald’s in Beavercreek and he and his friends gave her a ride to a party. They ended up dating for nearly five years.
In the meantime, Mike and I ended up in another rather ’social’ class: Human Relations taught by Mr. Marshall during our Senior year. We hung out quite a bit in this class as well. It was interesting to me that he was dating someone who I had always considered to be part of my ‘original’ high school group of friends. But as I was dating Christi at the time, Jackie and I had drifted apart for the most part by then. (We did take the opportunity to all be photographed together at Mike’s and my graduation - seen here).
Although Mike attended Wright State for electrical engineering after high school, I do not recall seeing him very much there. In fact, the next time that I can clearly remember tallking with him was in 2000 for our tenth high school reunion. Again, we chatted for quite a bit of time as I told him the status of my current marriage to Lisa - which wasn’t good at the time.
I had long hoped to meet up with Mike again, when my current girlfriend Jackie (yes, the same one…such is the circle of life), got back in touch with Mike and found out that he was playing bass in the local band The Difference, and making the rounds at the local nightclubs.
Mike was slimmer, but I had more hair!
On Friday, December 28, Jackie and I ventured up to Katz Lounge in Kettering to see Mike’s five-piece band (which also consists of his young, attractive wife Hannah on drums) play. It was great to be able to chat with Mike for a brief time before the band took the stage and then with him and Hannah after their first set. Always the nice guy, Mike even bought me a beer at the intermission. And yes, me being the wiseguy that I am, I couldn’t resist bringing up (pun intended) those french fries again!
The Difference: the lead singer Holly (far left) always introduced Karaoke at Cadillac Jack’s where I played trivia with Jason Heaton (small world, eh?)
Hannah and Mike (the hat guy)
For the record, this was my 17th and final reunion of 2007 - exceeding my original challenge to myself by five reunions.
We’ll be back - in 2008…
Continue to the next reunion…
Great to see you again! Awesome write up Brad!
Mike
January 1st, 2008