# High School Reunions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 11, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735 "2010-06-11T02:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/61 "2010-06-14T10:51:49Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I have a 30th year coming up in a few weeks. I believe I’ll blow it off. They’re doing it as a dry picnic. Fuck that. A dry picnic? WTH? That’s unnatural. and I’m just a One Beer kinda person. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/62 "2010-06-14T13:23:48Z")
> [@Acantha](#): > > I think people who enjoyed high school look forward to class reunions. > > People who didn’t, not so much. > > … It’s the opposite with me - I was an unpoular nerd in school, but on reunions I get along pretty well with my contemporaries. Also the women have tended to have become hotter with the years, and I enjoy some men having gone to seed (Ha!) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/63 "2010-06-14T13:42:19Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > A dry picnic? WTH? That’s unnatural. and I’m just a One Beer kinda person. That’s what I thought. Also, I’m familiar with the sportsman’s club where the picnic is being held, and the surroundings are, shall we say, somewhat déclassé . This is most assuredly not something I would pay $50 a couple to attend. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/64 "2010-06-14T16:52:08Z")
I went on Saturday and had a great time. it was not, however, a dry party. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/65 "2010-06-14T18:20:09Z")
I went to my 5th HS reunion and it was a bit disappointing as most of the people I wanted to see were away somewhere else. Also it was not well organized, kind of haphazard. By the 15th, (don’t know what happened to the 10th) it was a different story. I had been a geeky, unathletic, too-thin kid and teenager, made worse by the fact that I had skipped a grade and so was the youngest by far of anyone in the class. At the 15th, hey! I was STILL the youngest and the skinniest. Ha! Also I was in great shape at the time, and had done interesting stuff, including having just gotten my private pilot’s license that very day. I looked better than any of the former snotty stuck-up cheerleaders who had gone completely to seed, as it were, and I’d had a much more interesting life experience, with some actual accomplishments. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/66 "2010-06-14T19:02:26Z")
I went to my 20yr, it wasn’t too big or fancy. Finding it on a foggy rural road with no lines at night was a bit of a challenge. These things are what you make of them, I just went to see some old friends and see what everybody looked like these days. Facebook photos don’t tell the whole story. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/67 "2010-06-15T03:12:21Z")
My 25th is this coming weekend. Though I don’t see myself flying a thousand miles to go for a weekend party that I wouldn’t know half the people there. There were over 600 in our graduating class, and this reunion is a multi-class gathering. So more people I wouldn’t know. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/68 "2010-06-15T08:29:17Z")
> [@](#): > > I looked better than any of the former snotty stuck-up cheerleaders who had gone completely to seed Is it true that the snobs and stuck up “popular” people usually go to seed or go downhill? I do have to say that I am morbidly curious if those fuckers have ended up eating catfood and being greeters at Wal Mart. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/69 "2010-06-15T16:44:25Z")
IMHO, it’s more common than not among a certain subset, anyway. The ones I observed on this occasion were still bosomy, but it looked a lot less good on a 35-year-old than an 18-year-old, as gravity takes its toll. Many of them were not exactly the sharpest tack in the drawer, married young, popped out a few kids, and pretty much gave up after that, although they were still wearing the same makeup style. OTOH, I’m sure that there are many beautiful and popular young women and men who are also intelligent and talented, who became far more successful than I, and who remained as attractive as ever. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/70 "2010-06-15T17:07:49Z")
Was high school really so traumatic that all these years later you’re taking comfort in knowing that some of your contemporaries don’t look as good as they used to? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/71 "2010-06-15T17:11:56Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > Was high school really so traumatic that all these years later you’re taking comfort in knowing that some of your contemporaries don’t look as good as they used to? It’s much easier than going to all those widely scattered cemeteries and seeking out the individual graves upon which to piss. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/72 "2010-06-15T17:14:40Z")
Response to **Sleeps With Butterflies** : Well, the reunion under discussion was about 30 years ago, and I don’t give a crap _now_, but at the time I did. And yes, that aspect of HS was traumatic. Perhaps you were lucky enough not to be the person chosen dead last for every single team, or the one the popular girls snickered at, but I can tell you it is no fun at all. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/73 "2010-06-15T17:25:08Z")
Wow, I had no idea people really still held onto stuff like that for so long. I thought that was made up tv/movie angst. Honest to goodness, I really did. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/74 "2010-06-15T17:34:23Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I haven’t received invitations to any of my reunions; my mother still lives at the same address and I’m on [classmates.com](http://classmates.com), so it’s not like I’d be that hard to find. I doubt anyone from high school even remembers who I am. We’ve had 3 so far (every 5 years), and I’ve been invited to 1. By email. Three days before it happened. And only under duress. Like you, my parents still live at the same address I had in high school. That address and the associated phone number are in the class directory in the back of our senior yearbook, plus one of the women in charge of planning the reunions works at the vet clinic where my mom takes her dogs–I’ve talked to her when taking them in for Mom before. The first reunion, not only did they never make any attempt to find me through my parents, _four different people_ sent the organizers my current address, phone number, and email address. I still never got any information on the damn thing. I went anyway. As I was signing in, the one who works at Mom’s vet came running up, threw her arms around me, and cried, “Oh, I’m so glad you came! We tried soooo hard to find you and nobody knew where you were!” :eek: :mad: :rolleyes: When the second one rolled around, I heard about it when a friend emailed me the weekend before asking if I was going. She’d sent in my updated contact info since we’d moved since the last reunion, so I should have gotten something a month ago. I explained to her that no, I hadn’t received anything and frankly wasn’t surprised to not have received anything after the last time, which was frankly enough to make a person feel like they just plain weren’t wanted there. And lo and behold, a few days later, here comes an emailed invitation. From the same woman mentioned above. Talk about feeling the love. :rolleyes: After that, I just told my friends not to bother sending in my contact information as it was clearly a waste of their time, and not to bother telling me about any further reunions as I had no intention of going where I clearly wasn’t wanted. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/75 "2010-06-15T18:23:37Z")
Good to hear I not the only one. For some reason they never seem to be able to find me when reunion time comes around. My parents have lived at the same address where I lived during high school (40 years!) yet I never find out about the reunions, never get anything in the mail. For my 10th, my mom saw an ad in the paper and told me about it, same for the 15th. I always put my name down to be invited to next one but never hear back. I suppose the people who bother to organize these things are mainly interested in their friends. The two I went to were OK. There was never 100 people there, out of a class of over 600. The truth is, I was friends with people across a number of years so a reunion of just my class isn’t very interesting anyway. My in-laws recently went to something like their 60th reunion. I think the point is to see still survives. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/76 "2010-06-15T18:28:18Z")
I liked the people I went to school with well enough, and I would have no objection to talking to any one of them. But I’m definitely not pining. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/77 "2010-06-15T18:31:14Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > Is it true that the snobs and stuck up “popular” people usually go to seed or go downhill? I do have to say that I am morbidly curious if those fuckers have ended up eating catfood and being greeters at Wal Mart. At my tenth the beautiful people were still beautiful. The cheerleaders were still bubbly and pretty. The only difference was that I was able to overcome my shyness enough to be able to talk to them. Turns out they were also friendly, remembered me from school and had perfectly accepting. The fuckers, they could have told me to not be so shy ten years before. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/78 "2010-06-15T18:37:52Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > Was high school really so traumatic that all these years later you’re taking comfort in knowing that some of your contemporaries don’t look as good as they used to? Seriously. I had a fine time in high school, but detested grade school. I was horribly teased, mocked, etc. But if I met those people today? I’d say hi and see how they’re doing with no malice. Kids and teenagers are assholes almost by definition. Yes, that includes YOU. People (usually) grow up. If they don’t, well, ignore them _after_ you find that out. But harboring all that bitterness based on years and years ago is really draining. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/79 "2010-06-16T15:54:50Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > Is it true that the snobs and stuck up “popular” people usually go to seed or go downhill? I do have to say that I am morbidly curious if those fuckers have ended up eating catfood and being greeters at Wal Mart. The captain of our football team is apparently an actor in a hilareously bad gay indie film. Another really popular guy from my class is also pursuing a career in film/modeling and has a Facebook profile pic / head shot that looks like Derek Zoolander’s Blue Steel. I was at an industry happy hour a few months ago. There were a couple of guys there who apparently went to the same high school and just happened to be there and recognized each other. The guy who was a nerd worked for one company as a computer programmer and the other guy who was the good looking jock worked for another company in sales. > [@Sleeps With Butterflies](#): > > Wow, I had no idea people really still held onto stuff like that for so long. I thought that was made up tv/movie angst. Honest to goodness, I really did. It’s actually pretty sad really that a person could go through four years of high school and have zero positive memories. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735/80 "2010-06-16T17:15:24Z")
Speaking just for myself, it’s not that I have zero positive memories. It’s just that there are a fair number of bad ones related to certain situations. At the reunion I was talking about earlier, I also happened to get into a conversation with someone I always had conflict with back in grade school. She was very athletically talented, and also had beautiful long red hair. My recollection was that she was mean to me almost all the time, and I was jealous of her athleticism. Turns out that she had also been almost insanely jealous of me because I could read before she did. In a perfect world she would have taught me how to hit a softball (neat trick that it would have been, since at that time no one knew how nearsighted I was, and I couldn’t even see the cursed object), and I would have helped her with her reading. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-reunions/542735.md?page=5)