Reunionsomnia

I'd like to tell you all about a new medical condition that, ever since the reunion, has been ruining my sleep. Every morning about 1am I wake up and lay in a daze, with the events of that amazing day playing in my head like a movie in an endless loop. A kind of Camp Omega Groundhog Day.

I've been wracking my brain to find the root cause of this strange malady and have come to the following conclusion: the reunion altered my brain chemistry and re-wired the synapses in my cerebral cortex such that the ganglion's which link to the Omega memory banks are over-stimulating the neurotransmitters associated with the reunion, virtually putting my brain into a mental short-circuit.

And I'm not the only one experiencing this phenomenon. Rita and I were at holiday dinner with my Mom and Dad and, inevitably, the conversation turned to the subject of the reunion. My Mom said that she has been so excited, enervated and energized ever since that she's been waking up at 1am in the same trance-like state, taking her back to the moment the car pulled up in front of the Marriott and she, Linda and my Dad stepped out, not really knowing what to expect.

From the second they passed through the hotel's portal, she, Sam and Linda were overwhelmed by former campers and counselors from all the years, rushing towards them with hugs, kisses and loving expressions of appreciation for all that they had done for them. It took her almost an hour to get from the lobby to the reception area. I had to physically move her from the spot in front of the elevators where she had been frozen in awe and wonder. Linda and Sam were receiving similar accolades.

I had attempted to prepare her, but it was futile. The multimedia whirlwind of music from my beautiful and talented cousin Melanie and her band, the Omega movie, more and more Omegans practically pulling her from her chair with their enthusiastic and joyful hugs and kisses and Gary's heartfelt tribute to her and Linda and their respective husbands transported her to another time and place, a place inhabited by some of the most wonderful and tragic years of her life, filled with sweet/sad memories of her father David Rosen and of course her son Wes, their lives inseparable from the Omega times. Holding hands at the end of the reunion and hearing her sons' voices blended in timeless harmonies was almost too much to bear. But, true to form, she took in the emotional hurricane and made safe harbor in the real world. And how wonderful to be there with Sam, Linda, and, of course, Wally in loving absentia. I was so honored to be a part of this milestone in their lives, caught up in the same vortex of joy.

Somehow, we all survived that hyper-adrenaline rush with only one lasting physiological and psychological condition that I believe has infected us all: reunionsomia.

May we never be cured.