I just got back from my 45th Year High School Reunion, the Class of ’67. It’s only the third reunion I’ve been to. I went to the 10th, but not the 20th or 30th. When 40 rolled around, I had a brand new life, so I worked up my courage and went – and it was a lot of fun! What I discovered at the 40th was something that wasn’t yet apparent at the 10th: these people are really nice, and they don’t all hate me because I’m different. They are all different – each in his own way, but now it’s OK to be that way. Well, they were nice at the 10th, but I think we all were still working through the class hierarchy as it existed ten years before.
My high school days were really hard on me, as I am sure they are for most people who are still growing up. I have some memories that I had even forgotten about until I started searching my mental history for this post. And I’m so glad those times are in the past! It’s almost like some of that happened to another person! I hope she’s okay, wherever she is, but I honestly hope she doesn’t ever come back to visit!
After the 40th high school reunion, my classmates (and I) began to realize that life didn’t go on forever, and the list of “classmates we’ll miss” was getting longer and longer. That’s why we decided to go ahead and have a 45th instead of waiting the full ten years. Sure enough, we had to add more deceased classmates to the list in just the past five years, and who knows who will be missing by the 50th?
I think the best part of the reunion was meeting people that I didn’t realize even knew me and that I had admired from afar. Turns out they were delighted to see me, as I was them! Growing up does wonders, doesn’t it?
Other observations, in no particular order:
- The men, poor guys, weren’t nearly as “well preserved” as the women, for the most part.
- Some of the women (as my husband observed) weren’t nearly as sexy looking at 63 as they thought they were. But then again, some were!
- The sun is really hard on your skin, especially after being out in it for 60+ years!
- People remember things about you that you won’t remember, and think of you in ways you had no idea they thought!
- You will remember things about other people that they will think you made up.
- The skinny kids don’t always stay that way.
- The fat kids don’t always stay that way, either.
- The rich kids…are pretty much still the rich kids, and the poor – some of them did really well, too.
- The music from those days was much more fun to listen to back then. Now I just need earplugs.
- While our class is full of doctors, lawyers, public performers, and CPA’s, they weren’t always the ones we were so sure would be the “successful” ones.
- Some of our classmates didn’t grow up fast enough – drugs,drink and fun times killed them before they had a chance to mature.
Summertime is when most schools have their class reunions – have you been to yours? What did you think of it? Will you go back again?
