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They really don't want hard-to-find classmates. I wish they told me that before I went globe-trotting looking for classmates.
This is not at all the attitude of my high school class. They encourage everyone to attend and especially welcome classmates who have never attended a reunion. What's interesting is that some of the people who have never attended, or attended one reunion are classmates who still live in the area. Some of the regular attendees are people who travel from out of state. I think some of the out-of-state attendees combined it with a visit to parents and other family members. Unfortunately, we have reach a point where few parents are still alive.
I grew up in St. Louis and for some reason, when you meet another person about your age from St. Louis, a stranger, the 2nd or 3rd question in the conversation is "What high school did you go to?" It is not idle curiosity. It means almost nothing once you are in your mid-20s except it places you on a scale of social and economic ranking. I went to a friends wedding in the San Francisco area and was seated at a table with other people from St. Louis. Of course the question was asked. We were all in our late 60s but the social/economic classification continues. All very tiresome.
We had 520 in our graduating class and maybe 200 attended the 25th reunion. I never heard about any more reunions until our 50th. The turnout then was dismal. Many were deceased and many were scattered far and wide. I stay connected to two friends from HS. I have a friend with eight in her graduating class (1970?) and all are alive and stay in contact.
Politics has a big effect on lifestyle, the theme of the thread. It's his thread, he can choose the direction of the theme if he wants.
Like I said earlier upthread, I choose to remember people as they were, as difficult as that might be. It's a social/emotional event. The guys with their golf clubs and political/financial talk can go off and have their fun, while the intellectual/artsy/spiritual people can go off and have their fun. That's the group I was in - thankfully. If all there was to talk about was something I'm not interested in, it would have made for a frustrating evening.
I have no doubt that people brought up politics at my 50th reunion. THAT I find offensive. We're not there to discuss politics. We're there to have a fun time with the kids we went to high school with and catch up. I don't want to pay $100, a hotel, and travel 950 miles (at the time) to listen to people talk about politics at a social event.
Not true - the OP does not "own" the thread. Politics is supposed to be discussed primarily under the politics and other controversy group of threads. Most do not live for politics or let it control their life or lifestyle.
This is not at all the attitude of my high school class. They encourage everyone to attend and especially welcome classmates who have never attended a reunion. What's interesting is that some of the people who have never attended, or attended one reunion are classmates who still live in the area. Some of the regular attendees are people who travel from out of state. I think some of the out-of-state attendees combined it with a visit to parents and other family members. Unfortunately, we have reach a point where few parents are still alive.
My HS is like that, too- some locals who don't show up, and people like me who get on a plane to be there. HS was not the best part of my life but I've genuinely enjoyed getting to know some of my former classmates- many of us weren't in classes together back then. And we did a LOT of work trying to track down the "lost" ones- the list was circulated several times.
Politics are all over the board- yes, there are some whose FB posts are very far from my own views and I know to avoid that subject when I talk with them if they seem immovable. I do discuss opposing viewpoints with people who are capable of listening to to the other side- we can learn from each other and find common ground. It doesn't seem to be a function of who stayed in the town and who moved out.
Among other reasons - I’m not about to get on a plane just yet just to attend my 50th. My sister’s 60th reunion was supposed to be this year (she lives in the hometown). Even they are postponing because of the pandemic.
There are very few friends I actually want to see and talk with - so I connected with one the other day by phone…. The last time we spoke was just after the 40th reunion….I was in town to see my mother in her nursing home. It was a joy to talk to her. It’s the true connections that really matter. We were friends and roommates not just classmates. And we took interests in each other’s families.
A small group of us will get together the next time I am in town. That, to me, makes more sense than going out of my way to spend the time and money to sit in a room with people who normally wouldn’t give me the time of day in highschool.
You can’t be friends with 500 classmates…..
I’m grateful to have really good relationships with those who I had cemented relationships with before.
Not true - the OP does not "own" the thread. Politics is supposed to be discussed primarily under the politics and other controversy group of threads. Most do not live for politics or let it control their life or lifestyle.
Well good luck with that in this in these political times. Every facet of life is affected by politics whether you believe that or not. That's why people bring it up. Didn't use to be that way.
Every facet of life is affected by politics whether you believe that or not. That's why people bring it up. Didn't use to be that way.
My home state has fallen down the political rabbit hole - fallen and can't get up. My childhood backyard fence was the city limit for Ferguson, MO. The whole Michael Brown shooting episode took place less than a half mile away, right where we used to play. I left in the 1970s and the "old neighborhood" is physically intact but my old house (viewed on Google) is boarded up and looks like a crack house on a bad day. They will probably not be able to save it as a museum of my boyhood home. This is a 1950s subdivision and only a few houses away it looks like Pleasant Valley Sunday. My high school was excellent back then but went through similar changes and actually lost its state accreditation for a few years and school board officials went to jail. It was once a showplace and was the subject of a Life Magazine (smear) article on "coddled kids" back in the 1950s. I saw no coddling going on in my neck of the woods but it was a good place to grow up. I noted a certain level of both righteous smugness and resignation in the classmate facebook postings leading up to the 50th reunion and that turned me off. It was the same old group...they never moved on. We lived on a different planet back then but wild horses could not have dragged me back, anyway. I'm heading back to town to visit family this September but have no curiosity to see the old neighborhood.
Among other reasons - I’m not about to get on a plane just yet just to attend my 50th. My sister’s 60th reunion was supposed to be this year (she lives in the hometown). Even they are postponing because of the pandemic.
There are very few friends I actually want to see and talk with - so I connected with one the other day by phone…. The last time we spoke was just after the 40th reunion….I was in town to see my mother in her nursing home. It was a joy to talk to her. It’s the true connections that really matter. We were friends and roommates not just classmates. And we took interests in each other’s families.
A small group of us will get together the next time I am in town. That, to me, makes more sense than going out of my way to spend the time and money to sit in a room with people who normally wouldn’t give me the time of day in highschool.
You can’t be friends with 500 classmates…..
I’m grateful to have really good relationships with those who I had cemented relationships with before.
I'm currently working on my 50th Reunion. September of 2021. I'm the Chief Recruiter.*************Anyone else ever work on a high school reunion? It's fun but it's not easy.
Btw... here's the lifestyle I was looking for in 1971. No local girls were interested. I was lucky to find Sue in 1975. We lived it with no regrets.
What was to be our 45th Reunion in Fall 2020 didn't happen, obviously. My friend who is into that kind of stuff asked if I thought this should be the year. I'm about to call him and suggest either December or next spring. Despite my area's relief from Covid people are not yet into the "in-person gathering" mindset.
We are having our 51st grade school reunion in July. We had a small one last summer because of COVID. I went to an all girl high school in Chicago. Just got an email about getting together in the fall. We haven't had anything formal in 2 years. I always enjoy going. Talk to some people I never knew in high school. The group changes, there are always some regulars but 2 years ago one flew in from Australia.
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