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My high school reunion was held a couple of weeks ago, but I decided not to attend. There were no pressing matters in front of me. I enjoyed high school yet wasn't particularly enthused about seeing old classmates. The people I cared about most are still close friends today. Social media has made the world smaller, so it's easier to keep track of old acquaintances.
I loved my H.S. but always felt that I was on the outside looking in. I wasn't an outcast, had enough friends and lots of extracurricular activities. Hard to explain....
Have any of you attended your H.S. reunion? How did you feel? Have you maintained relationships with any of your former classmates?
No I did not attend,
Definitely had better things to do with my time,
I didn't like most of the people I went to high school back then so I doubt I would like them any more now.
I don't dwell in the past and went to 4 grade schools and 3 high schools so I did not form close relationships because we moved so much and I really didn't socialize with too many that I went to school with. I was always with an older group who were already out of high school.
There are many, many earlier threads about this topic.
That said, I just attended my 50th reunion and had a great time - it just passed too swiftly, and I missed a few classmates who were there, but whom I never connected - in a few cases, I learned they had attended only after the fact.
By this time, with one or two exceptions, all pretense and cliqueishness had vanished - most of us realize we don't have time left for that sort of dysfunctional and hurtful stuff, and have moved on. People were genuinely glad to see one another and to catch up and reminisce, and the spontaneity and feeling of community which resulted from our all being together once again are things which cannot be replicated via Facebook, texting, emails, or even letters and phone calls.
Many classmates had turned out quite differently than might have been expected - the tall, gawky, quirky but bright kid turned into a polished, highly regarded world-known expert in his field, the straight-A golden boy had doubled his weight and seemed civil and pleasant - but stodgy, the cute, chirpy cheerleader also had gained weight but turned out to be very perceptive, quick-witted and tender-hearted, while many of those who were under the radar surfaced as interesting, competent adults with interests and achievements in unexpected areas (for the record, I was under the radar much of the time in high school and was an underachiever in most classes. My horizons and interests widened much, much later).
Sadly, we've lost a lot of classmates, some very tragically, so those of us who remain and who attended were survivors in more ways than one.
Good planning and some innovations helped make the reunion interesting and run smoothly. This time, the focus was not so much on reminiscing about our high school days as it was on what we've done since then and who and where in life we are now. It was good to see old friends and start to make old acquaintances into long-overdue new friends, as unexpected common ground was discovered.
So, as I've written elsewhere on C-D, by all means, attend your high school reunions if they are any number other than five or ten. People haven't changed much until fifteen or twenty years have passed, but after that, look out! They usually become more mature, more nuanced, more interesting, less caught up in residual high school cliques and resentments, and find far more common ground with one another. Those whom you do not keep up with on Facebook or in other ways may turn out to be the most interesting people in the room, once you meet with them in person. People change - mostly for the better. so even if you didn't enjoy high school, don't shortchange yourself by skipping what may be a very memorable - perhaps even life-changing - event.
We're planning our 40th reunion right now and doing most of the talk via FB. I didn't keep in touch with more than a couple of people from HS, and reconnected with most through FB. I live about 3 hours away from my hometown but have no relatives there so don't have any reason to go back except for catching up with HS people. I went to our 30th with a little trepidation but it turned out to be fun. I'm hoping this one is a little less like a dinner dance (there was a LOT of crappy music in the 70's) and more like a reunion. I was friendly enough in HS, but didn't have a wide circle of friends. I think most people feel a little awkward in HS, but that doesn't have to carry over to real life.
I went to mine. The first one (to my knowledge) in 40 years. I was curious as I hadn't really kept up with anyone. Going to High School well before the internet age and then having moved away from my home city (in Scotland) made maintaining contact a challenge.
In fact the reunion was very well run and was very 'comfortable' in that we picked up old acquaintances easily. Only one individual - now a public prosecutor - seemed intent on laying old demons to rest. Fortunately, the object of his attentions had emigrated to Australia many years before. Other than that, it was nice to see how well many of us had done for ourselves. There was the dentist, the lawyer, the serial entrepreneur, the venture capitalist, the CEO (small engineering company), the oil man, the landscape gardner (own business), the electrical engineer, the Big 4 parter, etc. etc.. And there were relatively few deaths; only four out of around 100 of us that I know of.
Being held in Scotland, naturally there was the 'reunion after the reunion' which was held in the local pub with a good few of us pushing on through. Not something we were ever able to do during our school years. And a couple of the contacts I re-made have served me well as I needed a local and trustworthy lawyer when my mother passed away.
I am glad we did the reunion and I hope it won't be the last. It was fun to see people I had grown up with (our school covered ages 5-18). And as the poster above pointed out, I think life had made us all more mature and more interesting.
I didn't have to travel, I'm still local, and I thought it was a good event to go to. I was a bit of an outsider in school, spent most of my last 2 years in school spending more time working.
The dame I brought as my date thought that my female classmates looked "desperate", I thought the men in my class all looked a lot grayer than I was.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We have had many since I graduated in 1970 and I have not been to any of them, just not interested. I do keep i touch with a few people but only by Facebook and Linkedin.
Did we or did we not set foot on the school ground during the school years? Yes? Then we are insiders.
We've let those small groups intimidated us too long. Even now we're accomplished (often a lot more than those that self-proclaimed "in"), we still willingly accept the confinements thrusted on us.
No, we are never outside. We are inside. We are there. There!
.
Attending Your H.S. Reunion is just a way for many to size you up,
and see if you made something of yourself, or where you a failure in life.
Birds of a feather flock together ...
and many will segregate themselves from you before the reunion is over,
and you will be left out of any conversation with them.
H.S. Reunions are a waste of time unless you want to see
who did not succeed in life's high society, and in that case I would not want
to see those High Society Peacocks strutting their arrogates around.
Don't waste your time and I did not waste mine ! ! !
Did we or did we not set foot on the school ground during the school years? Yes? Then we are insiders.
We've let those small groups intimidated us too long. Even now we're accomplished (often a lot more than those that self-proclaimed "in"), we still willingly accept the confinements thrusted on us.
No, we are never outside. We are inside. We are there. There!
How about "on the outside of the circle of people who were all inside the school grounds." Does that make you feel better? You know perfectly well what the phrase means, and it has nothing to do with physically being on the school grounds.
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