The Boca Raton News 25 Years Later: A Six-Hour Laughfest!

Had a reunion of sorts last night.

A group of former Boca Newsers gathered to talk about the good ole days.

It was an intimate gathering of eight people who not only worked together, but partied together for several years. And when I say "partied" it was five or six nights out of the week, week after week.

One of the group never worked at the News, but has been around us long enough to be considered a bona fide member.

My first three or four years at Boca News were the most fun I've ever had working. It was fun for 18 hours a day. I've never been able to duplicate the experience.

Although a couple of our Boca News crew all those years ago were actually older than I, among the hardcore members, I was the senior partner by eight or ten years. When hired as a retail ad rep, I only expected to work there for six months. I told the retail ad manager -- a member of last night's group -- exactly that during my interview. She hired me anyway.

So I had short-timer's disease right out of the gate. This gave me a freedom of spirit that I think was contagious. I simply didn't give a damn. It was almost eight years later when I finally took advantage of a Golden Parachute offer and moved on.  

Called "the click" by some of those on the outside looking in at us, our tight-knit group experienced affairs, divorces and romances. In fact, the gathering last night was hosted by a couple who met and married through the News.

So when you get this group together, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of stories that can be shared. Some are best left to history, but others are classics retold whenever two of more of us get together.

We laughed nonstop around a dinner table for five hours. No one really wanted to leave.

When you've lived in such close proximity to a group of people through good times and bad, it has almost a lifeboat-syndrome effect. The only bonding I've experienced more profound was my three plus years as a Fiji in college.

I am paying the price this morning for last night's fun -- a small price to pay, might I add.

Tonight it's an Oscar party; and I left my Tux in South Carolina!