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I attended the 10 & 20 year high school reunions. I had a really good time and I laughed at the memories of all the angst my high school romances caused me. After seeing some of the guys I was hung the moon over after ten and twenty years, this girl dodged a bullet. lol. I missed my 25 year reunion because I was on vacation at the time. I heard that it was not much so I feel ok. I am not sure if I will attend the 30 year one or not.
Great thread! I LOVED my reunions! I never missed a single one and have always been glad to go. I still live within about a 15 mile radius of where I went to school, am still BFF with D from the 5th grade (we were maid-of-honors in each other's weddings and now we just became g-mas together!). I was nothing in particular - I hung out with a large group of friends, but we were the ones who were friends to everyone. I was friends with cheerleaders, with jocks, with nerds, with 'burnouts', with everyone and I was able to walk into my reunions and pick up with every single person I saw. Sadly, certain folks still maintained an attitude of altitude which made me wonder why they bothered to come! They struck me as being very sad people and perhaps they thought that they'd receive some type of adulation but because they never bothered to 'give'...they didn't 'get'...and after so many years, no one cares about that crap anymore! Seems they were the ones who were still stuck in high school!
I love to talk and laugh and have always been known for my smile--even though I wasn't anyone 'special' back then. Just to see some of those 'beauty queens' who looked "rode hard and put away wet" and some of them looked SO bad, unrecognizable!, I was shocked! Karma perhaps? God is good!! And some of the guys who thought they were all that and only went after those certain types of girls....would never have given me the time of day back then. My, my, my they certainly talked to me now - like as if they never saw me before! One of them in particular came up to my husband and told him that he was married to the most beautiful woman in the room - and that he was the luckiest guy! Wow! I'll take that to my grave! I just really enjoy seeing everyone and rejoice in the successes that they've had and am sad for some of the hardships that life has dealt these 'kids' that I grew up with. And I'm sad that so many of them have passed away at such young ages.
I think by visiting the past, it makes me happy that I am who I am today....having the family and friends that I love and who love me....I find that I have been very, very blessed!
first off, Miss Kitty -- do not let what other have / have not accomplished change your opinion of yourself. You have always appeared to me that you are a vibrant, caring person. And that is the greatest success you can be. You are a success in my mind.
I went to my 35th this summer. we had a class of 673. about 40 were there. interesting group, and nice seeing the changes. Most of my friends had become teachers in the same school system. I moved away - my best friend was killed in a car accident 5 years after HS. Its nice seeing people, but I always come away still feeling like I am left out of everything - but I feel that way even in my daily life.
misskitty, that looks like a really cool school. It is interesting to me that everyone seemed to not have a hard time in high school. I think *most* people have a hard time in high school, no matter what clique you fall into. I know when I got back in touch with old high school friends, I was the first to admit that I was unhappy in high school and really enjoyed life much more when I left. Everyone else heartily agreed and told stories of their own. Funny, but everyone felt like they didn't belong. I always thought it was just me. It's a time of insecurity, generally. So don't feel like it was just you.
I think it's great that you went. I am not the most confident of people and would feel really insecure going to a reunion, so going, I think, takes guts, unless you know a ton of people that are going, too. Well, even then I'd be anxious about it.
I don't know about any of you, but I feel like I'd want to be at my best. Lately I haven't felt at my best. There is lots of talk about people getting together and honestly I just feel down about it. Everyone has kids now, and I just had a miscarriage and am still sensitive about it. I haven't been working out and I just feel like I'd be preoccupied with all of that stuff instead of going to reconnect and have a good time. Maybe I'm overly self conscious (or vain) but that's how I'm currently feeling. Just kinda blah. At the very least I'd want to look great, LOL.
Miss Kitty, do not measure your success against other people. That road only leds to p ersonal disappointment and it's a very negative road to follow. You may not have been married, but you have many loving relationships with people and animals. You probably can run circles around those that you saw at the reunion in the caring department.
So what, some of them were successful in some areas of their lives, but then again, you only got to see and hear about a very small part of their life for one evening (and what they wanted you to hear). No one REALLY k nows how their lives REALLY are on a day to day basis.
And lots of people look back at HS as part of their "glory days" even if they weren't. I think we do that because compared to what came later, it maybe was for some people.
For me, I was definetly a late bloomer. I didn't date much in HS and boys were not interested in me. I wasn't popular, but I had the ability to fit in with all the groups to some extent. I had some things that made me miserable in HS. But my life after HS was pretty darn good.
For some people HS was the only time in their lives where things were good. So I'd rather be the late bloomer who was partially miserable in HS than to be the head cheerleader whose life was fabulous in HS and became so bad later, she committed suicide (yes, that happened in my HS class)
Just enjoy the part where you connected to other people, had a good time for a few hours and then went home. Don't dwell on what could have been or how fabulous some of them may have it. Like I said, do you REALLY know how fabulous their lives are? Or more probably, they are like everyone elses lives: up and down, happy and sad, accomplished and disappointed, etc.
misskitty - Don't dwell on what appears to be successes in the lives of others, from what I read here you my dear ARE a success, in that you have a wonderful furry family, a good human family a business that is working for you, and your health. You own your own home from what I read and you can and should be very proud of yourself. Most of all you have US here at FORT.
What Gabriel said.Originally Posted by gabriel;3207258;
And for all you know, those that appear successful may actually be miserable in their lives. You my dear do not appear miserable, but happy. Very few people can honestly say they are happy and content. It's your life, you seem to have done very well making it a happy one. Don't dwell on others.
I once was at an event with someone I knew from my hometown. She grew up dirt poor and had managed to marry well and her husband was well to do.
We were all asked to stand up and tell a little bit about ourselves. Well most people said what they did, mentioned how long they had been married and how many kids and animals they had. SHE stood up and said she lived (and I remember this exactly as everyone later was just making huge fun of her behind her back) "in a BIG two story house, had an RV and a sportscar, went on several vacations a year with many of the local doctors in town and their families." She never mentioned her husband or kids. What she talked about was designed to make us all jealous of her "perfect" life.
She made a very disparaging remark about me in front of several of MY friends and then in front of me and I came back in front of the entire room: "I happen to be VERY proud of where I came from, who I am and what I've accomplished. It may not be up to some people's standards, but it's up to MINE and that's ALL I care about". The funny thing was, that she quickly found out she had NOT made many friends that day and she packed up and left VERY early.
So having it all, isn't what it's cracked up to be.
I just heard Sheryl Crow on the radio and this song ALWAYS brings it back to me:
It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you have".
And that, my dear, is SO very true. YOU have a loving family, many friends, your kitties, your own home that is cute as a button from what we've seen, you have a fabulous and fun career.
So screw those other people at the reunion.
MRD - You are so wise! You are right on. People at reunions only show the side of them that they want people to see. Everyone goes to impress and show everyone how well their lives turned out. But no one's life is perfect, and those that brag most and probably the most unhappy.
Kind of an aside, but, as I've talked about on here before, I have an anxiety disorder. I didn't always have one, it developed a few years ago. I felt SO badly about myself for so long, thinking that something was really wrong with me. I'd feel like a loser for having a hard time doing simple things, like going to a crowded, noisy place - like a ball game - without feeling a lot of anxiety. Everyone else seemed to be so relaxed, having a good time, while I was doing all I could not to jump out of my skin. On the *surface* everyone seemed normal. And you know what? I probably seemed normal on the surface too. No one could tell I was in a panic. Not even the person sitting next to me or talking to me! I was (am) very good at hiding it. And, you know what? SO IS EVERYONE ELSE! People hide that stuff away. No one wants to wear on their sleeve that they are unhappy or are experiencing hardships.
Another semi-related story: Back when I was a struggling student, I had a 'friend' from high school that I kept in touch with who had a job and was constantly talking up all of her nice things. She had a decent one bedroom apartment that overlooked a lake in the city, and new leather furniture, and designer shoes and bags. I managed by but was a typical broke student. I didn't have designer duds and new furniture. She was always going on and on about her 'things', pointing out the brands, pointing out how much she paid for her skin creme, and what do I use? Oh, that? That's cheapy stuff, it doesn't work. She always tried to make me feel like such a loser. Turns out that she charged everything she ever owned onto credit cards. She couldn't afford any of it. Paid minimum payments on the card and had them all maxxed out.
The last time I saw her she visited me in another city after I had finished school and moved away. I finally was able to afford a decent place and she was visibly jealous. She started making fun of what I had, and talking herself up. Laughing that my clothes hangers were plastic and not wooden, like hers. Just really petty stuff. I lost my temper and told her that if I could go into debt for wooden hangers and boots with a designer's name on them, but I'd have to be stupid to do that and how financially irresponsible it would be. That was the last time I ever saw her or talked to her. All those years she wanted people to think she had it made in the shade and at that moment she slunk away because I called her on her BS. After that happened and I reflected on it, I was able to see just how unhappy she was. Anyone that tries to make someone feel badly about what kind of hangers they have (I would never even THINK of that!) is just fishing for ways to make themselves feel better and is very empty inside.
I've been to all 3 of my high school reunions (10, 20 & 30).The first 2 were ok, but, the 30th we just celebrated in July was such a blast. I was on the committee of my reunion and it was such fun. Not only did I see all of my old friends, I met many new ones too. My reunion kept me very busy and all of our hard work really paid off. Everyone said it was our best reunion so far, so we have decided to have a 35th reunion instead of waiting for # 40. There were over 300 people in my senior class and we've already lost 32 people. It's really sad! The only disappointment I had was when it was all over.
I wasn't able to go to my 10 year reunion but I did go to my 20th. It was 2 years ago and I have the best memories. So much so that I really encourage people to go to theirs. I wasn't popular, didn't have that many friends or anything, but I knew my best friend was going to 2 out of the 3 events. I went to all 3 and had a blast. The people in my class were mature enough to talk to everybody, and really enjoy the time (or it was the alcohol!) I haven't really kept up any contact with those people but I am one to let a lot of time go between talking to good friends. I am looking forward to our 25th, which is planned because everybody at the 20th had such a great time. It will be much less formal and more relaxed.
My husband and I attended his reunion last year and he had just as good a time as I did at mine. One of his friend's SO and I talked quite a bit so we managed to survive being there without knowing anyone.
I would recommend it for anyone, but realize some people had horrible experiences and would just as soon forget everything about it.
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