Got an e-mail from an old high school friend. He says that he and a few of “our” friends from school were going to have a get together and would I be interested in attending. These “friends” were really more his than mine. I didn’t particularly like them then, so I see no good reason to travel over 1000 miles to see them now. I didn’t go to my 10-year reunion (which was held in my hometown and was only 3 miles from where I lived). It’s not that I’m holding any kind of grudge, it’s just, of all the people I went to school with, I see the ones I want now. I must admit that it would be interesting to see what these people look like now, but, hey, that’s what pictures are for.
My 10-year reunion happened several years ago and I debated about going. I figured like you, “some people I’m not interested in seeing, and the people that I am interested in seeing, I already keep in touch with.” In the end, I decided to go. I was glad I did. Had a great time.
Missed the 10th and 20th, if we ever had one. Went to all-male Catholic (Jesuit) high school. I guess it was a launching pad for quite a few of my class to the seminary and priesthood (yay). I went off and joined the military for the next 20 years. The priesthood was definitely not in my future.
I guess the reunions would be awkward with several of my classmates relating about the ongoing joys of being a priest, while I could happily relate on my 2 bitch ex-wives, chasing hookers in the Philippines, and the sad demise of the 80s heavy metal bands.
I went to my 25th (traveled 1800 miles for it), then 30th and 35th (by then I was living “back home.”) Small class, about 60, and more than half the “kids” have attended the reunions.
I wasn’t one of the “popular” crowd, but I had a great time anyway. Spent most of the time with the gang I hung out with, and kinda wish I’d circulated more.
People who’d attended all the reunions said they get better, the older you get. At 10 and 15, folks were too worried about impressing everyone. By the 25th, the mood was “what the fuck, this is who I am, deal with it.”
I went to my 10 year reunion. I was “well-known”, not “popular”.
At the first get-together (we had 3: beer garden FAC, picnic, and dinner/dance), women came up to me and gave me hugs. (More attention than I got from them in the 3 years of HS.) The picnic was fun, got to see everyone’s progeny. (I didn’t have any.) And I danced the night away at the dinner/dance.
What was interesting was the number of relatively-recent divorsees that were obviously looking for another man. Boy did I feel like fresh meat.
20-year will be coming up soon. Now I’ll have a wife and daughter to show off.
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
Generally, I’d say go if it’s not a killer strain. My 30ths are coming up next year and I know I’ll make the effort.
I was not a “popular” guy, but was known - made good and bad grades, played sports, got suspended a few times, played in a combo (how long’s it been since you heard that?}, got arrested for beer. That’s all under the bridge. My 10ths and 20ths were really fun weekends. There was a fifth I attended as well which was basically a cocktail party where, as someone mentioned above, some were not sufficiently cured and were still trying to impress.
The plurals are the result of my attending one very small school from 7th-11th and one very large public HS for 12th.
If it’s not going to cost an arm and a leg, what the hell? It’s one evening that you might really enjoy.
I am not going… My 10th HS reunion is this spring and I have received many emails regarding this… and as I know almost all of the names on the list I can only name 3 or 4 that I would go out of my way to see again. although this list did get me in contact with one person I was friends with in HS who emailed me after he saw my name… this is a good thing… he was a good friend. I still have a silly urge to meet with one girl I knew in HS… my HS crush… I still get butterflies thinking about her… but I havent seen her name on the email list… and I havent seen her since graduation… and I wouldnt want to spoil my crush fantasies with reality… haha
Whether one would go, might depend on how long you went to that school. My dad moved us all during my freshman year when we lived in Jacksonville, FL.where we had been living for ten years. We moved to this little backwoods place in Georgia, and I wasn’t pleased, they were screaming about integration, many of the seniors were still going to school, and they were married! It was just TOO weird. So, I wouldn’t ever go back.
“Erlich, the woman is a TURNIP!!”
“I know, but my mom always told me to eat my vegetables!”
I went to my 10th. We had the Friday nite at a local pub and it was just grads until 9 then spouses were invited. It was a great time. The next night was a formal dinner, it was kind of a drag.
We are, each of us angels with only one wing,and we can only fly by embracing one another
I think the invite I received perfectly sums up my time in HS.
About a month ago, I got an invitation to my 20th reunion. The letter was typical gushy nostalgic stuff, with assurances that “this would be just as fun as the 10th reunion.”
I wasn’t invited to the 10th.
It’s my duty; my duty as a complete and utter bastard.–Arnold J. Rimmer.
Oh, and a postscript to the last post: included with the invite and newsletter was a list of all those students that couldn’t be located. Every single person that I’d want to see again is on that list.
My HS is no more. I have not heard from anyone from there in over 5 yrs. Lst yr would have been the 10yr reunion, but no one aptempted to contact me which would have been pretty easy. but I’m glad, hs is a memory i’d like to forget
I skipped on my 10th. I live across the country and wasn’t planning a trip just for a reunion. I keep in touch with those who I’m still close to (I went to school in a small time from Kindergarten to HS so I’ve had friends for 26 of my 29 years). A good friend who did go said it was OK.
It didn’t make sense to go to the effort of seeing a bunch of people who I didn’t care much for in HS. I’ll end up running into some of them anyway when I go home to see family. blah.
My 10th was apparently organized by a bunch of idiots. I was not invited, but was on the “lost list” of people they couldn’t find. Living in my hometown, name in the phone book, and, gosh, they just couldn’t find me. Turned out over half the class was “lost” and the reunion committee only really attempted to get ahold of their own friends.
Of my group of six people that hung out together (two boys, four girls), five of us were “lost.” So we took a summer weekend, went up to my parents’ lake place (with spouses and kids), and had a blast. We all skipped the official reunion, though I heard it was pretty lame.
I’d consider going to the 20th only if different people are organizing it. The bottom line is that it’s not a big deal for me, because I’m still in touch with my true high school friends, and I don’t really care if I see the rest of my classmates again or not.
Mt first wife and I went to her ten-year HS reunion, and it was a disaster - she was unhappy because none of the crew she hung around with went to the reunion, and I was bored out of my mind because I didn’t know anyone at all. Moral: seriously think about not dragging your spouse along if he/she didn’t also go to the same high school. Otherwise you spend the entire evening introducing your spouse to Yet another stranger, you end up feeling like a babysitter, and your spouse ends up bored out of his/her skull.
I went to my 25th HS reunion alone (my wife decided not to go after hearing my stories about what it was like being a spouse at that other reunion), and had a wonderful time. Got a room at the hotel where the reunion wwas being held, spent the entire evening drinking beer and chatting with my old buddies on the wrestling team (boy, had we all gotten fat!), and toddled off to my room to fall asleep as soon as the festivities were over. My wife had nothing to worry about (but then she’s known that for a long time now).
I did notice that all of the drug-along spouses looked bored out of their skulls.
You know, I probably would have ended up “lost” for my reunions too, but one of my close friends (who was always pushy) has done all the organizing. Just let someone try and take that task away from her!
I’ve “found” a few classmates on a couple of websites – www.classmates.com and www.alumni.com – kinda neat, for anyone who’s really looking. (I’ve never been able to find anyone in those on-line directories. Have you?)
Of the dual reunions I’ve been to, the one’s for the small school have been the best. The other school was huge and I was only there a year.
But I had a blast at one of it’s reunions (not my class). When I was a senior I went out a few times with a sophomore gal. She was my date for my senior prom (for the small school) and then I moved on to another life and never saw her again. Until 22 years later she somehow discovered my business number and called to ask me to be her date to her 20th reunion. I had to secure current GF clearance, which was done.
It turned out that several of her classmates were folks I’d met later in life and it was truly a lot of fun.
Yes, I’ve noticed that I’m in the minority here on reunion appreciation.