It could have been last weekend. I went to a movie and then sat in the parking lot and stared out the window. “I think I know all those people,” I thought.
But it wasn’t last weekend. It was 1983 and the movie was “The Big Chill.”

Last weekend was a Big Chill weekend, without Kevin Costner. Costner was the character who committed suicide and brought the friends together for his funeral, though he and the flashback scenes to their anti-war days at the University of Michigan were cut from the movie. (I did stop at the cemetery when I got to my little hometown and believe me when I say that unless you donate huge sums to your alma mater you don’t want to see your last name engraved in granite.)

So there we were, friends from high school and college together again, and I was right. I do know all those people.

Granted, it’s been forty years and maybe some of us have changed, just a little.

Kevin Kline’s character, the successful businessman, is retired. His success turned him conservative, so at least while he was there we didn’t discuss much politics.

The pot, pills and cocaine have been replaced by alcohol.

I often come away regretting more what I didn’t say than what I did. Though perhaps it’s safer that way.

The William Hurt character has the cabin that Costner started on “the property” and, as in the movie, we drove out to see it and spent a fine afternoon there. Looking out at the trees and grass I understood immediately why Hurt liked it there and I heard my inner Jeff Goldblum say “that’s what’s great about the outdoors. It’s one giant toilet.”

The JoBeth Williams married a man who wasn’t in our school but he fits in perfectly and could have been in the neighborhood if only geography hadn’t gotten in the way.

When it was time to get back to the city to catch my flight home, there was a part of me that wanted to say “we took a secret vote. We’re not leaving. We’re never leaving.”

But I did leave. Whether I went away is another question altogether.

It was quite a weekend. I am glad I went to The Big Chill in 1983. The other choice was “Poltergeist.”