Congratulate me, I just survived my 25-year high school reunion

I moved away from one town after ninth grade. I never saw those people essentially for more than 30 years until I heard about a high school reunion for that class through classmates.com. So I got back in touch with a woman from the neighborhood who I knew would remember me and went, despite some fears about being remembered.

And it worked out fine. Some people did remember me (I brought the junior high newspaper and yearbook, just in case), and dinner felt like I was back at the junior high lunch table. It was fascinating to see what had happened to people who I hadn't seen since age 14. Yes, the good athlete/real smart guy was indeed a doctor in Pennsylvania. Others followed typical career paths that could have been guessed back then. Then there were the exceptions -- the really good athlete who now weighs more than 400 pounds, the basketball player killed in a drug-related car accident.

I've stayed in touch via e-mail with a handful of people. So if you find yourself in a similar situation, go. It was great for satisfying 30+ years of curiosity.

 

5 year was a keg party, major brawl erupted, good pal of mine got nailed for DWI but it was fun.
10 year was an informal dinner dance one night and then a bar night. Tried dating a girl who was a dog in HS but turned into a major fox, but it didn't work out.
Then a couple of years later, I was with my soon-to-be wife and we went to her 20th. Now I'm 7 years younger than her, so I thought I was going to be a little kid with the grownups, but the ages of 31 and 38 aren't that much different.
We went to her 25th and had a good time, didn't feel as old.
My 20th was last fall, so 10 years since the last one.
I had a blast. I still live in my hometown and working for the paper gives me a bit of very minor celebrity, but I got along with everyone.
I saw one guy I kinda of hung out with, for the first time in 20 years. Mick's red hair was receding and he had a big beer gut but he hadn't changed a bit.
I saw this one guy who was Mr. Popular in HS and is a lawyer, we weren't the best of pals, but I was cordial.
So I say to Mick, wow, I just saw so-and-so for the first time in 20 years.
Mick says, "And I don't care if I didn't see him for another 20."
Classic Mick.
I'm looking forward to the 25th in 2010. Of course my wife has her 30th in 2 years. Guess I like to go to reunions.

 

Ha! I have you all beat. I skipped my 20th to drink beer all weekend with Jones at Nye's in Minneapolis. And then I wrote a story about it. Top that.

 

Re: Congratulate me, I just survived my 30-year high school reunion

And not much has changed in the interegnum.

The old grads gathered Friday and Saturday, but thanks to covering high school and college football, I didn't get there until about 8:30 p.m. Saturday. I only spent about three hours, drank nothing but iced tea and was home before 1 a.m.

Interesting that the asshole factor was much less than in previous years, mostly because several of the assholes weren't there this time. Still, somebody I don't remember going to school with -- who was actually trying to be nice -- felt obligated to bring up how much shit I was dealt way back when. "You were the most disrespected guy in this town."

Apparently, that is still a topic of conversation in The Little Outhouse on the Prairie. Glad to know I left a lasting impression. Maybe next time I'll find out that the downturn in football fortunes is somehow my doing.

As I told one of the few classmates with whom I was somewhat compatible, I come back just often enough to remind myself why I don't come back more often.

 

This year was my 20th year reunion. Neither of my schools had a five-year or a 15th year reunion, but I went to both 10-year and 20-year reunions as I mentioned before.

I pretty much saw all the people I really wanted to at both reunions for the school I actually graduated from. At the reunions for my school in Maine, I was hoping to see one particular guy who'd written a VERY moving passage in my yearbook. The fact that he was at neither reunion is about the only disappointment I had.

 

My 40th was last year at this time. Our QB, (a guy I'd known since kindergarten) who was second-team all-section, hadn't been to any of the previous reunions -- 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 -- because he had kidney failure and was in the hospital on dialysis every time.
The reunion organizers arranged for him to come to this one and set up a place in the mezzanine where he could sit comfortable away from the crowd. Later, they announced he was there and people went upstairs to say hi to him. He came with his son and a teammate from the next year's class.
It was a fantastic time, him being there was the highlight. Later, he said he went home and stayed up until 3 a.m. talking about how great the reunion was.
He died 5 weeks later.
His son said he felt that his dad being able to reunite with his old friends and relive the glory days kind of completed his life. He accepted the end was near and he was ready to go.
Aside from this, I've been to all of my reunions and thoroughly enjoyed them.

 

Attended my 10th in 1984, just a few days after my father had died. Sat in corner and drank myself senseless.

My 20th was in 1994 with my almost-wife, who was in my class. As I recall, many of us noted that we must be getting older because the band was SO DAMNED LOUD!

For reasons I'm not clear about, we did not have a 25th.

The 30th was a good time, just a couple of months after I got married (not to almost-wife).

Since then, partly fueled by the rise of Facebook, there have been a few more casual get-togethers. No talk, as yet, about the 40th.

 

I'm never invited to my class reunions.

Partially, it's because I was thrown out 2 weeks before graduation, so technically I'm not a graduate.

But mainly, it's because the queen bee who organizes them every time is my ex-girlfriend, who I dated most all of high school -- and she's gone on to be married four times, and I'm told she's embarrassed to be around me.

 

And every time an ex-husband to be goes down on her for the first time, they see "TigerVols Wuz Here 86" in an inappropriate place, and so they eventually dog off.

 

Oh, it's in a VERY appropriate place.

 

My 25th is coming up next year.
If they have one, I'm not sure I'll go. I haven't received a formal invitation to any of the previous reunions, so who knows if I'll actually get one for this one.
I was one of those kids that got along with nearly everyone but was close friends with no one. I have kept in touch with ZERO people from high school.
On Facebook one person I graduated with wanted to friend me. I said yes and saw he was friends with about half the people we graduated with. A few months later I was cleaning up my friends list and thought "we weren't friends in high school, we haven't e-mailed or messaged since friending on Facebook why do I have him as a friend here?" and dropped him.
Am I curious as to how things turned out for people I graduated with? A little. But am I willing to go to the reunion (I live about an hour and a half from my hometown)? I don't know.
Do people usually go to the reunions with spouses or do they just go solo?

 

My high school has reunions every 10 years, and I've been to all of them. It's one of the few chances I get to go back to the old hometown, since I have no family there. I am still very tight with my oldest and best friend, who lives in Colorado, and the reunions are a good time to get together.

I had just gotten married right before the 10-year, and I'm surprised she stayed with me after meeting some of the no-accounts I was friends with in high school. That was one of the best parties I've ever been to. Got totally blitzed and boogied all night. We had a DJ who played a whole lot of good old rock-and-roll, and we even passed the hat to get him to stay an extra hour.

The 20 was a little more sedate, although the post-party at the motel was pretty heavy-duty. My buddy was a no-show for the 30, and it was OK, but a little ho-hum. Got the 40th coming up in two years, and it'll be interesting with the advent of Facebook. A lot of people from my class have friended me, and we've chatted a bit, so we won't be complete strangers. The fact that I'm no longer drinking liquor will also make things a little different.