“Or, more likely, we’re all the protagonists in our own stories, and the reunion merely gave us a chance to satisfy our vague curiosity about what happened to the random background characters in our lives.”
Just went to my 50th (!) reunion, and it resonated. For me, it was also great to see that so many of us were still alive.
I can’t remember how big our class was but I’m sure we could have eaten your class as a starter. LOL. I only went to one reunion and I did that for selfish reasons. I was a geek in school, a nobody, invisible. Until the last half of my senior year when I got in with the exchange students and wow, was that an eye opener, lol. Still, I dressed dowdy (poor as hell) and had long straight hair like all the others in the 70’s, was heavier than most but not fat, etc. During the 10 years before the reunion I had changed. I joined the Navy, went overseas, lived a life and was no longer an ugly duckling. I was slim and beautiful (at least I thought so until I looked back on a picture and OMG what was I thinking??? Blue eyeshadow???). I wanted to show that I had “made it.” And it worked. Those that remembered me were more than surprised. The big football jock, who had just gotten divorced, took notice and we started....well, another conversation. It was glorious! The only thing wrong was that the people I would have wanted to see, I didn’t. They’d all gone back to their countries. I never went to another one. However, I’ve found several of my old (emphasis on old) classmates on facebook and we sort of watch each other, LOL. Honestly I find myself going “do I look that old to them??”. Yes. Yes I do. Sigh.
I went to every reunion our smallish class of 175 ever had....5, 10, 25, 45, and 50th, which was 6 years ago. The first couple had a lot of the one-upmanship conversations but by the 25th, we all had settled into our lives and just enjoyed each other's company. We were a class that had known each other from junior high and some of us since grade school. The wallflowers were now beauties, the gorgeous ones were now looking like everyone else, the jocks were now a tad flabby, the cliques were gone, and the "smart" ones were still smart. And many that finished low in class rank graduated from college and had been successful in their jobs. I was in what I always called the "mid-range" group: at the top in class rank, active, musically talented, and got along well with those in all other groups. So, being co-chairman for our 50th made sense. We went all out, from the meal and entertainment to a wonderful display of memorabilia, a class booklet and a video with music for the In Memorium. I'd say 3/4 of our living classmates showed up. We've sadly lost about 30% of our class and it will only get worse so we enjoyed ourselves tremendously, knowing most of us will never see each other again.
Anyway, being on the introverted side, I thought I'd never enjoy the reunions, fearing the "what am I doing here" feeling, but I was so wrong. It was so nice being around folks who knew me in a time of my life I have sometimes forgotten. We'd love to have a 60th, but the 50th was so much work that I doubt any of us would have the energy to tackle another one. But it sure was fun.
That's an amazingly high turnout percentage. You guys must have really like each other. You should guilt someone into planning it who hasn't done it in the previous 50 years. It's got to be someone else's turn by now.
Remember, it doesn’t have to be a gigantic planned event. We’ve started putting together in between mini-reunions - picking a date, a restaurant and asking who wants to go so we’ll know how many to make the reservation for.
Hang in there - was just at my 50th - about the same size as yours give or take a few.
I can tell you that it is absolutely the same every years. Maybe a divorce here & there after years & years, a few we lost - that should start soon for you. So yay - look at all you have to look forward to at the future reunions!!!
Oh and if you are lucky - SOMEONE will share COVID with 30 or more classmates!!
As one of those Immuno compromised kinda people I definitely DID NOT approve one bit! It was not a very nice thing for them to bring - peach pie would have done nicely, but not COVID!
"we’re all the protagonists in our own stories" - I have never thought about it that way; until now, the only time I've felt being a protagonist happened to be while playing GTA V online.
About pipes - there were lots of problems with them in my junior high school, caused by the people from classes one year older and younger than me. Guys from those groups liked to put all sorts of things into the urinal, which once led to pipes exploding and some leakings one floor under the boys bathroom, as well as flooding the floors in the bathroom. Since then there's no urinal or toilet doors in that bathroom.
A bit further in my journey- our 50th class reunion is next year. I went to my 25th and hung out with the same two friends I have been in touch with throughout the years. The only thing new for us to talk about was the other attendee (some things never change) Friend 1 says she sees no point in paying $80 each for a buffet dinner with that crowd when we could go to a really nice nice restaurant and have a great evening with the three if us and spouses. Friend 2 is blissfully unaware of passage of time. Actually, she is not on Facebook (HORRORS!) and relies on me to keep her updated on such important events. So far, I am leaning towards ditching the reunion...
My 48th is coming up. I didn't go to any of the others, so I won't bother with this one. The reunions seem to have turned into golf outings anyway. That's the only thing more boring than the reunion itself. (Yawn)
Think of how shocked they'd be if you showed up after a 50 year absence. You could claim to be anyone you wanted and they'd have no evidence to the contrary.
My best friend from junior high until we graduated high school had a ginormous family. Her mum was the youngest of 14! And her dad the youngest of 11! All of those siblings went on to marry and duplicate. Family reunions often had upwards of 500! I would go and just pretend to be cousin such and so, no one wanted at admit they didn’t remember me. What great fun.
My high school only has reunions every 10 years. My class' 40th reunion was wiped out by COVID, so we will be going from the 30th to the 50th reunion. I expect some serious changes in people at that point!
I went to so many different schools--three high schools--and if ever I hear the names of former classmates, I have two faces that my memory pulls up, a girl and a guy. Same faces, different names.
Crazy synchronicity here! Thirty minutes ago I was waiting to check in to a hotel and there was an utterly obnoxious woman shouting into her phone on speaker, so loud I could hear her down the hall and halfway to my room. She was at one point loudly declaring, “Cloning is already here. They are doing in Barbados and that’s why...” at which moment she walked the other way, only to return to the lobby jabbering on another topic.
My 20 year high school reunion was last year. I did not go, but did enjoy the email thread between everyone about how we are still considered one of the most dysfunctional classes in recent memory. I went to a private school, and if that invokes images of teens with entirely too much money and too little parental supervision, you would be correct. There were 69 of us in our graduating class, and 25 of us (including me) had been there since kindergarten. Not a lot of chances for reinvention. I tried telling myself that I should just go, that people are probably different (read: nicer) than 20 years ago, but I decided against it. I only keep in touch with a couple people and they didn't go.
Your class was about the same size as mine, and with a similar consistency of personnel throughout. We were a good class, though. That just means we didn't get caught.
Always thought reunions had been replaced by social media. Last year would have been my 50th (so stop whining about it being your 20th) and I never heard a word about it. Not that I would have gone anyway.
I thought social media had replaced it, too, but Facebook never shows me anything I want to see anymore. Instead of former classmates, I see groups I'm not even in and ads.
I'm not sure if there will be a 55th class reunion, or reonion, if it happens, it will be one to remember as who survived this long and how they did it. BTW it will be in 2025.
"Half of my classmates had driven there in vehicles identical to my own. We’re all equally uncool after all." After writing an entire chapter of your first book about how minivans were the best things ever built, I now discover that you did not really mean it, and that it was all a lie.
What else did you lie about ? I have to rethink all my apocalypse survival plans now.
Loved this line in particular:
“Or, more likely, we’re all the protagonists in our own stories, and the reunion merely gave us a chance to satisfy our vague curiosity about what happened to the random background characters in our lives.”
Just went to my 50th (!) reunion, and it resonated. For me, it was also great to see that so many of us were still alive.
Hurray for continued survival! Honestly, I felt the same way, and this was only our twentieth.
Never understood HS reunions, the people that I liked i kept in touch with and I really could care less about the other 780
A fair point, but every once in a while you stumble across someone you were on good terms with who you also forgot existed.
I can’t remember how big our class was but I’m sure we could have eaten your class as a starter. LOL. I only went to one reunion and I did that for selfish reasons. I was a geek in school, a nobody, invisible. Until the last half of my senior year when I got in with the exchange students and wow, was that an eye opener, lol. Still, I dressed dowdy (poor as hell) and had long straight hair like all the others in the 70’s, was heavier than most but not fat, etc. During the 10 years before the reunion I had changed. I joined the Navy, went overseas, lived a life and was no longer an ugly duckling. I was slim and beautiful (at least I thought so until I looked back on a picture and OMG what was I thinking??? Blue eyeshadow???). I wanted to show that I had “made it.” And it worked. Those that remembered me were more than surprised. The big football jock, who had just gotten divorced, took notice and we started....well, another conversation. It was glorious! The only thing wrong was that the people I would have wanted to see, I didn’t. They’d all gone back to their countries. I never went to another one. However, I’ve found several of my old (emphasis on old) classmates on facebook and we sort of watch each other, LOL. Honestly I find myself going “do I look that old to them??”. Yes. Yes I do. Sigh.
It's not a competition. Unless you're winning. Then it's definitely a competition and you're in the lead.
I went to every reunion our smallish class of 175 ever had....5, 10, 25, 45, and 50th, which was 6 years ago. The first couple had a lot of the one-upmanship conversations but by the 25th, we all had settled into our lives and just enjoyed each other's company. We were a class that had known each other from junior high and some of us since grade school. The wallflowers were now beauties, the gorgeous ones were now looking like everyone else, the jocks were now a tad flabby, the cliques were gone, and the "smart" ones were still smart. And many that finished low in class rank graduated from college and had been successful in their jobs. I was in what I always called the "mid-range" group: at the top in class rank, active, musically talented, and got along well with those in all other groups. So, being co-chairman for our 50th made sense. We went all out, from the meal and entertainment to a wonderful display of memorabilia, a class booklet and a video with music for the In Memorium. I'd say 3/4 of our living classmates showed up. We've sadly lost about 30% of our class and it will only get worse so we enjoyed ourselves tremendously, knowing most of us will never see each other again.
Anyway, being on the introverted side, I thought I'd never enjoy the reunions, fearing the "what am I doing here" feeling, but I was so wrong. It was so nice being around folks who knew me in a time of my life I have sometimes forgotten. We'd love to have a 60th, but the 50th was so much work that I doubt any of us would have the energy to tackle another one. But it sure was fun.
That's an amazingly high turnout percentage. You guys must have really like each other. You should guilt someone into planning it who hasn't done it in the previous 50 years. It's got to be someone else's turn by now.
Remember, it doesn’t have to be a gigantic planned event. We’ve started putting together in between mini-reunions - picking a date, a restaurant and asking who wants to go so we’ll know how many to make the reservation for.
Hang in there - was just at my 50th - about the same size as yours give or take a few.
I can tell you that it is absolutely the same every years. Maybe a divorce here & there after years & years, a few we lost - that should start soon for you. So yay - look at all you have to look forward to at the future reunions!!!
Oh and if you are lucky - SOMEONE will share COVID with 30 or more classmates!!
HAVE FUN!!
You're the second person to tell me about covid at a reunion. Must be a new trend. Can't say I approve.
As one of those Immuno compromised kinda people I definitely DID NOT approve one bit! It was not a very nice thing for them to bring - peach pie would have done nicely, but not COVID!
"we’re all the protagonists in our own stories" - I have never thought about it that way; until now, the only time I've felt being a protagonist happened to be while playing GTA V online.
About pipes - there were lots of problems with them in my junior high school, caused by the people from classes one year older and younger than me. Guys from those groups liked to put all sorts of things into the urinal, which once led to pipes exploding and some leakings one floor under the boys bathroom, as well as flooding the floors in the bathroom. Since then there's no urinal or toilet doors in that bathroom.
Things have to be pretty bad to lose door privileges. Boys are the worst.
A bit further in my journey- our 50th class reunion is next year. I went to my 25th and hung out with the same two friends I have been in touch with throughout the years. The only thing new for us to talk about was the other attendee (some things never change) Friend 1 says she sees no point in paying $80 each for a buffet dinner with that crowd when we could go to a really nice nice restaurant and have a great evening with the three if us and spouses. Friend 2 is blissfully unaware of passage of time. Actually, she is not on Facebook (HORRORS!) and relies on me to keep her updated on such important events. So far, I am leaning towards ditching the reunion...
A nice dinner does sound like a fair replacement. I think your friend has the right idea.
My 48th is coming up. I didn't go to any of the others, so I won't bother with this one. The reunions seem to have turned into golf outings anyway. That's the only thing more boring than the reunion itself. (Yawn)
Think of how shocked they'd be if you showed up after a 50 year absence. You could claim to be anyone you wanted and they'd have no evidence to the contrary.
My best friend from junior high until we graduated high school had a ginormous family. Her mum was the youngest of 14! And her dad the youngest of 11! All of those siblings went on to marry and duplicate. Family reunions often had upwards of 500! I would go and just pretend to be cousin such and so, no one wanted at admit they didn’t remember me. What great fun.
I had my 40th(!) high school reunion this weekend. Also a Catholic school. And, I'm a writer.
Maybe I'll jot some notes so you can see what's ahead ... :)
The things we do for yet one more thing to write about...
My high school only has reunions every 10 years. My class' 40th reunion was wiped out by COVID, so we will be going from the 30th to the 50th reunion. I expect some serious changes in people at that point!
Big jumps like that are sure to be full of surprises. I'm sure you'll come back from the 50th with some stories to tell.
I went to so many different schools--three high schools--and if ever I hear the names of former classmates, I have two faces that my memory pulls up, a girl and a guy. Same faces, different names.
Is it possible your memory is accurate and you went to multiple schools with batches of clones? Just a thought.
Crazy synchronicity here! Thirty minutes ago I was waiting to check in to a hotel and there was an utterly obnoxious woman shouting into her phone on speaker, so loud I could hear her down the hall and halfway to my room. She was at one point loudly declaring, “Cloning is already here. They are doing in Barbados and that’s why...” at which moment she walked the other way, only to return to the lobby jabbering on another topic.
My 20 year high school reunion was last year. I did not go, but did enjoy the email thread between everyone about how we are still considered one of the most dysfunctional classes in recent memory. I went to a private school, and if that invokes images of teens with entirely too much money and too little parental supervision, you would be correct. There were 69 of us in our graduating class, and 25 of us (including me) had been there since kindergarten. Not a lot of chances for reinvention. I tried telling myself that I should just go, that people are probably different (read: nicer) than 20 years ago, but I decided against it. I only keep in touch with a couple people and they didn't go.
Your class was about the same size as mine, and with a similar consistency of personnel throughout. We were a good class, though. That just means we didn't get caught.
Always thought reunions had been replaced by social media. Last year would have been my 50th (so stop whining about it being your 20th) and I never heard a word about it. Not that I would have gone anyway.
I thought social media had replaced it, too, but Facebook never shows me anything I want to see anymore. Instead of former classmates, I see groups I'm not even in and ads.
I'm not sure if there will be a 55th class reunion, or reonion, if it happens, it will be one to remember as who survived this long and how they did it. BTW it will be in 2025.
If you find out how they survived, let me know. I'm always looking for life extending secrets.
This season, I think you need more gruesome Newsletter titles. Your Top 3 are: I Almost Died; Stabbed in the Back; and Dying on the Table.
"Half of my classmates had driven there in vehicles identical to my own. We’re all equally uncool after all." After writing an entire chapter of your first book about how minivans were the best things ever built, I now discover that you did not really mean it, and that it was all a lie.
What else did you lie about ? I have to rethink all my apocalypse survival plans now.