I don’t know what I was expecting (or should have expected for that matter) when I went to my reunion Saturday night. I’m struck with how much was the same from High School. People’s personalities and mannerisms are very similar to what I remember. Of course the same groups hung out together – that was to be expected after all. The venue was bizarre (no complaint to the people who organized it, more an observation of the Company who is paid to put these things on) I would have enjoyed it much better if it had just been in the Auditorium of the school.
Christina did a good job trying to psyche me up leading into the event, re-enforcing that I am successful and that I look great. I imagine that for a lot of people these events can traumatic and serve to resurface old feelings of inadequacies and failures. I would be lying if I claimed to be any different. Right after High School my drive and ambition was centered around proving myself to the world. I longed for the “I told you so” moment. Thankfully I came to peace with that particular demon quickly. Fortunately my drive and ambition shifted to center around proving to myself that I can do x, y, or z.
Anyways I digress, the oddest part of the night was just seeing people that were such a part of my everyday life that I haven’t had any contact with for a decade. Would it be nice to keep in touch with some of them? Absolutely. Do I expect it? Not for a second. It sounds harsh and sad, but simply put the same part of my personality that kept me from being the social butterfly in school and keeps me from having a large group of friends today is not going to miraculously evaporate in one night.
Bottom line I was glad I went. I had fun, and it was great to see old friends. It’s a shame that there were so many people missing.