I know we’ve done this before, but I’d be interested if folk were willing to share their reasons why or why not.
I never have. I went to a huge HS - 1100 in my class. I wasn’t a real social butterfly or a BMOC, tho I had plenty of friends in various circles. HS wasn’t hellish, but it sure wasn’t a highlight of my life. Mainly, it was just a really long time ago. I don’t have many vivid memories about HS or my classmates, and no strong desire to rekindle them.
I was friends with some HS friends through college, but then after college, I rarely encountered or kept in touch with any of them. Just moved in different circles. Has been at least a decade since I so much as exchanged x-mas cards w/ my last HS contact.
I recently got an e-mail of an upcoming 40th reunion, and I’ve been going back and forth on whether I want to attend. In the past, I have disfavored pricey, lengthy reunion activities. But this one is only $60, and an easy 20 minute drive from my house. I kinda feel like I OUGHT to go - I generally favor experiences over simply relying on my prejudgments. So never having been to a single reunion, this would be my opportunity.
But since I haven’t seen a need to so much as look anyone up on facebook over the past decades, I don’t really see the reason to go and see if I remember anyone, or if they remember me. I’ve been looking at the names of folk who signed up to the FB group, and tho I remember some of the names and can conjour up a vague image of them as a kid, I really am impressed at how few vivid memories I have about HS or any of my classmates. I don’t want to feel like I want to brag about my life since HS (which has been pretty good, tho not earth-shattering.) Or to see if I’ve kept more hair and gained less weight than others. And it would REALLY SUCK to go there, and feel as tho no one was interested in me! I’m not that fragile, but I don’t really need to pay $ to take a blow to my self esteem from something 40 yrs ago!
So what were your experiences/decisions WRT attending reunions or not?
I’ve never been and almost certainly never will. I have no contact with anyone from my high school, I hate crowds, and I never had school spirit. No interest whatsoever.
Oh, nooo. Never have. Most likely, never will. I never hated school, I just don’t think I care enough. I had a lot of sibs who have gone to some and they report to me about them. Nah, never lost anything after the door shut.
I wouldn’t be able to be in a venue with a bunch of people I barely recognized. I do have a friend since high school I still see. We weren’t BFFs or anything. Just friends.
I went to my 10 and 25 year reunions. (Class of 81. Class size 330). With just about all of the friends that I care about being on Facebook, I doubt that I’ll go again.
I go to every reunion I hear about - that’s been a few high school reunions and some grade school reunions ( with varying numbers of people - anywhere from 10 to a couple hundred). But I must have had different experiences in high school than you did , because I remembered lots of students and teachers from high school and I’m Facebook friends with many of them. I don’t mean that we’re all members of a “Class of XX” group. I mean someone found me and sent me a friend request and then we caught up on our post high school lives and found someone else until about 50 of us were connected in one way or another. Same thing with the grade school people. So for me, except for the first high school reunion ( which was pre-Facebook) , it hasn’t been so much seeing people I haven’t contacted in years. It’s mostly been seeing people I’ve been in touch with , although there are always some who show up for the reunion who I haven’t been in touch with.
Pretty much this. I didn’t have a bad HS experience - a few good friends, got along with most everyone, no bullying. But it wasn’t particularly thrilling either and I haven’t spoken to anyone( excluding one step-brother )in my class in 20 years.
I wasn’t that interested to begin with and what very mild interest I once had when I was still in contact with some of them has steadily declined to almost nothing. I’m not really all that interested in seeing how old everyone looks now or hooking up with an old crush :D.
I went to my first reunion. I enjoyed it. Then my family moved and the alumni association no longer had my address and I had no contact with them. As the 50th approached, I tried to find out if a reunion was planned. The alumni assoc, which had info about other classes had nothing about mine. I accidentally found out about a kind of private reunion by invitation only. Also very expensive, over $500 for my wife and me. Pricks. The alumni assoc, which was once quite active, seems moribund.
But I had some old friends from HS that I would like to contact again if I could. Email addresses are very hard to find. Interestingly, there is no one from college I would go out of the way to contact. With one exception that I am in regular contact with.
I went from place to place, attending 4 schools in 4 years.
Bullied & beaten every step of the way.
The only thing I want to hear about any of em is that God dropped a small meteor on them.
A few years ago I got a call from someone from high school who had just attended a big reunion, asking me why I don’t ever go, they’d all love to see me, everyone asks, etc.
But you see, that’s exactly why I don’t go. I know, I’m the one they’re all talking about. I was a pregnant teenager, and surrendered my child. I returned to school but it was a nightmare for me. Not just because I felt judged, but I was trying sooo hard to be seventeen! But it was no good, I didn’t care about prom dresses or cute boys, I was kinda the walking wounded. Just trying to make it through another day. Truly hellish.
I moved away from there, never looked back (it’s not in my nature), and have had a wonderful life.
(Enchanted you might say, my daughter came back to me and I have two grandsons! )
There is no way, no how, I’d ever go back there to a reunion.
I graduated 51 years ago, and I haven’t attended any of them. That’s not a part of my life I want to relive. I assumed the ones who became doctors and lawyers would all show up to gloat.
I happened to be in town the weekend of my 15th, so what the heck, why not, I went. But there were only a handful of others from my year there, and of course the other years represented were 5 (or more) years ahead or behind of me, so I never knew them.
I might do the 25th, though, which is more likely to have people I know.
I’m back in my hometown and don’t have to worry about travel arrangements or costs, I made a few friends in high school and mostly didn’t hate the rest of them, and they only schedule reunions once every ten years. So sure, I’ll attend.
Middle school, now that would be a different thing altogether.
Nope. My 40th was last month, and I realized when I looked at the list of people who had registered to attend that I didn’t want to talk to any of them. Hell, I didn’t talk to any of them in high school… I was also depressed by the list of people who had died.
Part of the issue was that I was in Band and Stage Crew as my main social thing in high school, so I spent most of my time hanging out with people who weren’t in my class. Some of the people who graduated a year before me, or one or two after, I’d like to see again, but from my class, there isn’t anyone.
My wife and I graduated from the same class at the same high school. We attended the 10 and 20 year reunions, and then said to each other we don’t need to go any more, and have not. The few friends we still have from those days we still stay in-touch with, and there is no reason to go any more.
I will say, tho, at that 20 year event, we both commented afterward “damn, we look good!”
If it’s only $60 and in your town, why not go? If it turns out to be a drag you can just bail. Otherwise, that night at home you will be wondering. If you truly don’t care, as others have mentioned, then don’t go, but it sounds like there is a sliver of thought that you want to go, otherwise you would not have posted here.
I went to my 10 year and it was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to my 20th. My wife and I went to her 10th and it was terrible and I don’t think she has any plans to go to her 20th.
I think the difference was the kids at my reunion wanted to find out what others were up to and people were mostly doing interesting things while at my wife’s it was mostly the people who stayed in town and didn’t do anything with their lives and they didn’t want to talk to anyone they didn’t see every day.
I guess once I’m no longer interested in what happened to the people I went to high school with I’ll stop going but at the minimum I talk to three kids from my class every month and in the last year I’ve reached out to a half dozen more asking about their lives or getting help with mine in the last year.
