Reunions - High School or otherwise

[misskitty]

I thought I'd start a thread about reunions. Whether it's your high school, college, university, corporate or whatever. Did you organize one? Did you attend one? How was it? Any big surprises?

I'm going to my 30th High School Reunion tonight! ( I graduated when I was 5 years old)

I'm excited and terrified at the same time! There hasn't been a reunion since graduation. I was not what you would call popular or in the in-crowd. I wasn't a cheerleader, wasn't on the swim team, or the student's council and was bascially a wall-flower who hungout in the Yearbook Office with other geeks like me. I was extremely shy, square, geeky, and wore hand-made clothes. I had glasses, braces, and bad skin.

There will only be about 30 people from a graduating class of 700 (huge innercity school). And a few of the people I knew and would like to see. Others, I never had anything to do with. My evil-twin sinister has finally agreed to go and we're going separately. We're going to pretend we haven't seen each other in years!

I may need a drinky-poo as soon as I get there for some courage. I have to say, I've changed a lot since those days and certainly like myself better. Wish me luck!

[just1paul]

Believe me honey, if I were to go to a reunion I would need more than one drinky poo. Couldn't stand any of them then, probably less now. I would however like to send best wishes your way for your reunion.

[Rattus]

Good luck, MissKitty, I hope you have a good time. In all honesty, I couldn't be paid to go to my high school reunion. A few years ago I did the free sign-up with Classmates.com to see if I could find out what any of my classmates were up to, but no luck with that. However, last year I got a message saying that "B...D..." had left a message for me, which I would have to pay to retrieve. I was momentarily excited because B had been my best friend at the school (my actual best friends went elsewhere). However, I was brought short by the recall that I stopped hanging out with her because she was a bigot. And she was the best person I could find to hang out with there. So, no reunions for me, and all the drinky poos in the world won't change my mind.

[Veruka]

My class had our first reunion (15 year) a couple of years ago. I went, and I'm glad I did. I think I enjoyed it more than i expected to. There were a few things that cracked me up about it -- the way that so many people congregated in their same old social cliques -- the jocks were on one side of the room, the "band geeks" on the other, with various other cliques fluttering in the middle.

I kind of marvelled at how many of my friends - who still live near each other and see each other often -- all kept to themselves. I felt like I saw them all the time, I wanted to focus my time on the people I hadn't seen in 15 years, which I did. I think I got more out of it that way.

The very best time that I spent there, oddly enough, was with an old friend i hadn't seen in 15 years, drinking and sitting back towards the bathrooms in a hallway for a good long time. We wound up back there because it was so loud and that was one of hte only places we could hear each other talk. But with that location, EVERYone had to come by us at some point or another to use the bathrooms. So we ended up talking to and catching up with many many more people than we would have sitting anywhere else. A definite plus I'd recommend to anyone! :-)

The other thing I found rather interesting about the whole thing -- but I won't call it a negative because I didn't mind it -- was how all the promises ot keep in touch after went so quickly undone. It was kind of like a weekend Brigadoon or something. We all came together, remembered the fun we'd had and trouble we got into, laughed and wondered how we'd stayed apart for 15 years, and then after two days of it, went right back to our old lives, remembering the fun but not really feeling the need to re-live it for another 5 or 10 years.

[just1paul]

The other thing I found rather interesting about the whole thing -- but I won't call it a negative because I didn't mind it -- was how all the promises ot keep in touch after went so quickly undone. It was kind of like a weekend Brigadoon or something. We all came together, remembered the fun we'd had and trouble we got into, laughed and wondered how we'd stayed apart for 15 years, and then after two days of it, went right back to our old lives, remembering the fun but not really feeling the need to re-live it for another 5 or 10 years.

That is why, if I run into someone I have not seen nor heard from in a long time, I never say keep in touch or we need to keep in touch. I always say "It was nice seeing you, but let's not do that "keep in touch" thing, maybe I'll see you again."

[Lucynda]

I ignored my 10th and 15th but decided to go to my 21st as I had moved state shortly after graduating and had not seen any of these people for 20 years, this i thought was long enough to make an impression.
I spent hours on my hair and makeup and changed clothes three times, finally I felt ready to make an impact. I arrived at the hotel, picked up my name tag and walked in. Straight away a few girls came up to me and said "Lucy, look at you, you havn't changed a bit"
I was devisated, I sat staring at my High School photo on the wall, the 16 year old me, 10k heavier, mousy frizzy hair, braces, and a face covered in acne and freckles, and contemplated the money I had obviously wasted on weight loss, hair straightening and lightening, acne treatments and good cosmetics over the last 20 years. Why did i bother
LOL
My advise is to go, even thought the minute you walk in all your teenage insecurities will come flooding back, all the people who ignored you in school will talk to you as if you had been best buddies, you will not recognise any of the boys from your class as they seem to have changed the most, but you have to resist the urge to run out the door, and at least stay long enough to get all the gossip and realise that most of them turned out exactly how you thought they would.

[MRD]

I went to my 10th and 15th and 20th. We didn't have a 25th and probably won't have anymore as the person that organized them died and no one else wants to go to the trouble.
At the 10th, no one had changed. Everyone was trying REALLY hard to make impressions. "Look what I've accomplished since High school". By the 15th, everyone had relaxed and by the 20th, we all had a BLAST together. No more cliques, no more trying to one up each other. Just a relaxed atmosphere and fun. It also helped that we didn't do a big fancy dinner at that one to get dressed up for, didn't have a band or fancy decorations. Just something very casual and fun.

One thing that has always bothered me though is that none of the black students have come to any of the reunions we have had. They have had their own reunions in other places at different times and usually do not tell and do not invite the rest of us.
We have always included them in both the planning and invitations for the "official" reunion and they decline to come or help out. It's been very, very weird. We all got along well in HS and I had several friends that I would have liked to have seen again, but they refuse to come or to invite us to their gatherings. I find it sort of offensive and also discrimminatory and no need to have "separate" reunions.

[onei0091]

I didn't go to my high school reunions - last year was my 15th - but I have reconnected with a lot over the internet. There was a website for the reunion and to access it you had to enter your name, email and, if you wanted, a little blurb about yourself and what you do now. Hundreds ended up posting a blurb, I was surprised at how readily people told about themselves. I went to a very snotty school in a upper middle class suburb and everyone was always very guarded. No one would 'go first' or make the first effort to do anything for fear of embarrassing themselves, so I was suprised at how forthcoming many were.

What I notice is that there is a group of people (former jocks, preppy kids, losers, nerds, all walks of high school stereotypes) that have left our hometown and have experienced more than just the quiet little suburb where we all grew up, and they have really grown out of the high school mentality. Then there are a group of kids (mainly the ones that were in the popular group) that were handed jobs by mommy and daddy, never left the suburb, and still are very high school. Mom and dad put down payments on their homes and have always handed them everything. It's amazing how many have taken that path. And they literally haven't changed at all. They all seem to be very close to one another and have remained close over the years, but have little interest in anyone that has left the area.

I don't go, and I don't know if it's because I'm a big ol' chicken or because I really don't want to. Part of me would be interested to see everyone, but I think it would be more like a fly on the wall situation and not one where I'd have to actually interact. I'm proud of my accomplishments since I left that school so many years ago, so I'm not necessarily ashamed to go, but at the same time I feel like it would be a situation where everyone is judging everyone else - just like being in high school again. I think that would be more anxiety producing than a good time.

Speaking of judging (LOL)they posted pics of people on the internet from the reunion, and, yeah, the guys look SO different. They look like, well, our DADS when we were kids! It's weird! The women look similar as they did 5 years ago but just a bit older.

[PGM35]

I went to my 20th High School Reunion last night! How funny that MissKitty started this! I also went to my 10th and 15th. The 10th had a hugh turnout but the 15th was in another city and it was just a "let's get together for dinner" type of thing. I, too, have a twin sister and I had to convince her to go. She said she wasn't popular in high school and no one liked her. Which is crazy because when you graduate with 70 people, the popular kids are the geeks, and NHS and Student Council and jocks. There were not too many "cliques". We had a blast! It was so much fun. My SO didn't want to go but ended up having a great time too. He talked shop with one of my retired Army classmates and they found they had been stationed in the same post and knew some of the same people. Small world.

Well - here is a picture - ImageShack - Hosting :: 20thyearreuniongroupshozf1.jpg

[misskitty]

Meowza! Thank you so much for posting everyone! How interesting it is to see how something like a high school reunion affects us and in different ways.

I am quite exhausted. I got home around 2am. I am glad that I went and my twin sinister is glad as well. We experienced both positives and some negatives that shouldn't have been a surprise, but do send you back emotionally to the "old high school" memories.

I am wrestling with my emotions today, after having time to absorb the evening. I feel good about myself, but also sad that I have not been able to accomplish some of my goals & that others have accomplished theirs. I feel happy that I have not had to experience divorce and being a single mom, and yet am feeling sad that I wasn't able to find a true love, and enjoy 20+ years of happiness, beautiful children, travel and the monetary success that some of my fellow grads have experienced.

I am glad that I reunited with a few people who remembered me and took the time to remenise over the yearbook, but disappointed that others still didn't make an effort to give me the time of day.

And I am surprised that most of those who attended seem to remember high school as a happy, fun, bonding time they will always cherish. For I do not remember high school like that at all. For me it as stressful, lonely, and unforgiving. And after last night, that memory remains the same for me.

My high school was a big inner city school, with an 2 story east wing and a 2 story west wing, connected by trades and services wing, a full theatre, swimming pool, classrooms, gym, and supported 2 cafeterias. With a graduation class of close to 700, one would have expected a bigger turnout. But it was nice that it was a small group.

The only real common thread that was brought out, was that we were all from families who struggled; who didn't have big incomes; who didn't live in the suburbs and go to the newer schools which have long been referred to as rich, snobby, and safer. And it was somewhat comforting to know that other grads had experienced the same negative reaction and judgment from others when finding out what school we had graduated from. For it was the school where kids were allowed to smoke in the halls, drugs were available, gangs existed, and enrolled students that other schools would not accept. And yet, this school yielded lawyers, interior designers, oil technologists, nurses, and responsible parents.

How times have changed. For now, this poor inner city school, is a successful High School of the Arts; prestigeous in nature, full of the most promising, with students who must apply and be accepted into their hallowed halls. How I wish that it was a respected School of the Arts when I attended.






I do not know if I feel like a success or a failure or both. And I'm not sure that it really matters that much in the long run. Going to kiss my kitties and have a catnap now. =^.^=