I live for reunions.  It’s a chance to hobnob with people you haven’t seen … let alone thought about … in 15 years.  Last weekend, I went back to kibbitz with folks from the very first TV station I worked at … KCCI-TV in Des Moines.

Oh, how I long to hear people say, “You haven’t aged a bit!”  1) Because it’s true.  (Uh, I’ve had work done.)  And 2) Because I can say, “I know!”  I usually carry a boom box with me so I can play Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” on an as needed basis.

This was the inaugural get-together of the KCCI contingency.  There were old-timers there who pushed the button when KCCI (then KRNT) went on the air 50+ years ago.  There were a slew of reporters from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s — none of which still had their porn-star moustaches or Farrah Fawcett-shags.  There were people who still work there … the people who taught me everything I know.

And then there was Sarah Jarvis.

When I worked with Sarah in the early ‘90’s, she was my arch-nemesis.  She was Newman to my Kramer.  Veronica to my Betty.  She took an instant dislike to me from the minute I walked in the door.  It was mutual.  I’ve been in exactly two yelling matches in my entire professional career … both were with her.  Once she raged at me about something stupid and I did the unthinkable.  I raged back.  The newsroom stopped cold.  There were 10 different videographers in the room who could have recorded the event for posterity, but no … they were frozen in their tracks.

I fully predicted having Round III at the reunion, but Sarah diffused it by saying she enjoyed reading my blog.  I folded like a cheap card table.  She apologized for being an evil shrew and I apologized for being a snot-nosed punk.  There.  Done.  NATO could learn from us.

I cut my teeth at KCCI.  I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started.  I just knew this was the coolest job I would ever have.  When I left seven years later, there was weeping.  Me, not my co-workers.  How would I live without these friends I worked so closely with for the better part of my 20’s?  Well, like any good bird that leaves the nest, it was time for me to spread my wings and fly.  So I flew down to KC where I learned bigger markets only have bigger problems and bigger egos.  But no Sarah Jarvis.

I’ve been waxing nostalgic ever since.