I have not felt inspired to update this blog in a couple of weeks, but now that my 20th high school reunion has come and gone, I want to get my thoughts written down.
To say that I have overly excited about this reunion is a gross understatement. Ever since planning started over Thanksgiving weekend last year, I've been anticipating the reunion. That being the case, I was afraid that it might not live up to my expectations, but I'm happy to say that it did. The only complaint is that it was much too short. It's so hard to fit everything - and everyONE - into about 36 hours. Crazy.
By far the best part of the weekend was spending time with some of my very best friends. I love getting together, though we do it far too infrequently. Fortunately, we can pick up right where we left off which I love! We can move into and out of and back into each others' lives through the years and somehow manage it almost seemlessly. We're similar, yet different. Somehow it just works.
I often feel just one step outside the circle though because we really did have different high school experiences. Oh sure, we had the same classes sometimes, same friends, teachers. We were growing up in the same location. But my parents were pretty protective and if I did not have a destination and an estimated time of arrival back home, I wasn't going to get out of the house. Plus, they hated the idea of me riding in the car with teenagers driving, so I never really went out. So a lot of things went on in high school that I wasn't a part of. That's not a complaint at all - just a simple statement of fact. And the only other thing I'm going to say on that subject is I'm glad some of y'all made it out of high school alive. LOL
In addition to spending time with the usual suspects, I had a chance to speak to some other folks outside that circle from the Class of 89 which is something I had hoped for. In a class of about 600 students and a school of nearly 2000, it's impossible to know everyone. But for me, part of the purpose of a 20 year reunion is to throw off the old high school cliquishness and stereotypes and talk to folks. You don't have to act like best friends with people that might not have given you - or you given them - the time of day in the past, but as adults, it's nice to be able to realize that that was then and this is now. So for me it was nice to have a chat here and there with folks that I remember, but didn't know that well. Through the magic of Facebook, we are into and out of each others' lives anyway, so it would be silly not to speak.
Facebook gets a bad rap a lot of the time, but I heard more than once someone say that if it hadn't been for reconnecting with people on FB they would not have come to the reunion. At least FB is sometimes using its power for good and not evil. LOL
It was also interesting to me to be told a couple of times by folks that they wish they had known me better in high school. It was a nice compliment and to took it in the spirit it was intended as I know it was sincerely meant. But I know it was also based on their knowledge of who I am now and that is not necessarily who I was then. There are no guarantees they would have liked me then! Of course, I think I'm very different now than I was then, but I'd have to leave the truth of that up to those who have known me this whole time to decide just how different I might be. I'm louder that's for damned sure!
In the end, I think everyone who attended had a good time. I hope they did anyway. Twenty years ago it was easy to get wrapped up in who were the "cool" kids and who was popular or unpopular (which was totally subjective then AND now), but for me that's all in the past. Sorry popular kids! We've all pulled you down a few rungs as we've climbed up the ladder and we're all on even turf now. :o) But I mean that in the nicest way possible, because I think 20 years down the road that's where we SHOULD be. All on the same level. And really, that's where we were 20 years ago, we just didn't realize it.
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