Are you going to a high school or college reunion this spring?

[+ FreshFluff]

Are you looking forward to it or not really?

 

I'm off to a multi-day extravaganza reunion, about which I have very mixed feelings.

 

[+ FreshFluff]

Went once and never again. Only saw people I would never want to see again, and nobody I was looking forward to seeing was there (including the reunion committee - no shows!) Reunion picture taken when I went to the restroom, so no proof of me having even been there. Come to think of it, I'm only made aware of them after they are over ever since that first one.

 

Have fun at yours. Really.

 

The reunion committee i.e. the popular ids didn't show? What fun is a reunion without them? I don't blame you for not going to any more of them.

 

We'll see how much fun I have. Most of the people I knew well aren't going. I'd give the last reunion an 8 out of 10, but I was more confident then.

[+ purplekow]

I went to a medical school reunion. I specifically went as I was friends with the person being named Man of the Year. As it turns out, several of the people I wanted to see attended. This was about 2 years after my wife had died, so it was a bit difficult going solo as most people there were with spouses. I had a good time. I spoke with the Man of the Year and made arrangements to see him in SF, which turned out very well.

As with most things in life, if you go with reasonable expectations and an intention to make it a good thing, it usually works out. A miserable time at a class reunion is a cliche and you can easily avoid the cliche by having a reason to go, even if it just to have a night out, and then making sure you have a good time instead of expecting someone to show you a good time. Kind of like the Palm Springs Party. Go with a party attitude and you will have fun.

[Funcompany]

I wish. I loved high school and college. 2 more years and there should be a high school reunion. The last one was great fun. I'm lucky to say I have stayed in contact with dozens of high school friends over the years.

[+ purplekow]

I wish. I loved high school and college. 2 more years and there should be a high school reunion. The last one was great fun. I'm lucky to say I have stayed in contact with dozens of high school friends over the years.

You had dozens of high school friends? You must have a very inclusive definition of Friend.

[+ FreshFluff]

To make things worse, I just hit my forehead on something and got a small bruise. Great timing. I'm icing it now.

 

But PK is right.I'm not usually a party Persian, but I'll try to drink a little and see if I can view this as a party rather than a competition. (They're holding sessions on "alternative career paths" to make us less successful people feel better. After all, if people don't feel good about the reunion, they don't donate.

 

When you say Man of the Year, are you talking about the Time magazine award?

 

My high school yearbook picture was a fiasco, and we had to wear a blown up button photo of our former selves. If I had known ahead of time how horrible this would be (It was on 9/11 before "9/11" happened), I would have skipped out.

 

Wow. That's humiliating, whether you looked better or worse back then . No wonder the reunion committee skipped it.

[Kippy]

At my fifth class reunion six or seven of the redneck boys in my class started a food fight. At my tenth class reunion I was sitting with four or five good friends. My best friend from high school turned to me and he said, "I had little in common with these people ten years ago and even less today!" Now that we're gone over 40 years I won't darken the door or seek any of them out (although I never cease to be amazed at their financial appeals which come several times a year!). Life marches on...

 

Kipp

[body2body]

High School was an experience I would prefer not to relive. I was marked as the school fag, and in the 1960s this was not

a desireable person to be. I was teased, bullied, and beat up up by the J.V. Football team after a game one Friday night.

When I received an invitation to my 25th reunion, I showed it to a friend who knew what an ordeal High School had been for me. He asked if I was going to go. My reply "only if I can bring a gun".

[samandtham]

I attended my high school reunion and had a good time (it helped that I was visiting my parents in my hometown when it happened). The turnout was pretty good, and I enjoyed going around and talking to plenty of the attendees. My batch wasn't huge, so everyone knew each other, if not by name, then at least by face.

 

Besides the usual things that everyone goes through, like eating by myself for a while, until I find a group I can go with; dating, kissing, and having sex for the first time; carving out my identity; I had a pretty uneventful high school life.

 

I will admit though that I derived some pleasure in seeing those who peaked in high school.

[+ OliverSaks]

10 year HS reunion this summer, but I won't be there because of my new job starting in TX.

 

It would be fun to see a few people, but mostly I couldn't care less about missing it. High school wasn't exactly a pleasant time, except for the half days I spent at a magnet school in town for STEM classes. I would love to see where these people ended up, but I don't think they have a reunion (and I'm not on social media to find that out).

 

Even though I was gay and closeted in HS, and I felt pretty out of place, my class voted me "Most Likely to Succeed." It would be kind of cool (for the insecure part of myself that still exists from those times) to show up as a "successful" gay man.

[+ poolboy48220]

I attended my 20-year and it was a good time, not great. Lots of planning going on for my 40-year this fall, and I'll probably go to that. My high school had a 50-year anniversary of the school opening about 7 years ago, including all graduates from all years. I skipped that and hearing the stories (from friends and family who attended) I regret it.

[Bearofdistinction]

Are you looking forward to it or not really?

 

I'm off to a multi-day extravaganza reunion, about which I have very mixed feelings.

 

 

Never Been Before === But my telegenetic powers have been developing nicely in the last few years --- And my date is Piper Laurie

 

[BasketBaller]

I've been to a couple of them and liked them well enough. I'm in touch with a few classmates/teammates anyway, and since they live far away it's an excuse for them to come back, and we get to see each other. I skipped the one right after my wife's death, but went to the next one, and heard that I'd been quite the topic of conversation at the one I missed. Much concern about how I was doing and some musing on how nobody back in school would have thought I'd have gotten married and had kids so young. It was an all-boys school and my reputation had been as a ladies' man who played the field. My settling down had surprised everyone.

[mike carey]

It was an all-boys school and my reputation had been as a ladies' man who played the field. My settling down had surprised everyone.

If only they knew you now! (Or perhaps if only they read your posts here now.) You're an inspiration here. And if you omit the specific gay references you'd be an inspiration to anyone.

[BasketBaller]

If only they knew you now! (Or perhaps if only they read your posts here now.)

Don't think I haven't thought about that! Who knows, maybe I'll give them all the surprise revelation some day.

[+ Charlie]

I have gone to almost every one of my high school reunions--we have them every five years, sometimes more often now that we are old and alumni are dying off. Travel to them is harder for me now that I live a couple thousand miles away, but I intend to make the major ones if I can. The only college reunion I went to was my 50th, and I had a wonderful time.

 

At my 25th high school reunion, my dinner companion was a woman with whom I had been friendly, but whom I hadn't seen since graduation. She had been one of the class rebels, and ran off with a boyfriend just before graduation. She said to me dolefully, "I only came to see whether I fit in here better than I used to, but I still don't." A few months later she died in a one car accident that looked suspiciously like suicide. The effects of high school can linger more seriously than we expect.

[+ deej]

Went once and never again. Only saw people I would never want to see again, and nobody I was looking forward to seeing was there

 

This was my one reunion to a T. I ended up leaving early to join some friends at a pizza joint.

[+ purplekow]

But PK is right.I'm not usually a party Persian, but I'll try to drink a little and see if I can view this as a party rather than a competition.

When you say Man of the Year, are you talking about the Time magazine award

No he was not on the cover of Time, however as a reconstructive facial plastic surgeon, he had gone to Guatemala and established a modern, fully supplied clinic, in which he did reconstructive surgery on children with cleft palates and lips. He also did other surgeries. He spent a significant amount of time there and brought teams in from other locales to do all types of medical care.

 

I was going through a rough patch with my wife's passing. My career had lost its shine and I was looking toward to doing something more rewarding. I was seeking advice on how to do it. I spoke with the Man of the Year at the reunion, but as he was the main honoree, he did not have much time. We made arrangements to meet afterwards.

 

As fate would have it, his wife had just been diagnosed with cancer and he was having difficulty handling the illness, his career and his children. He wanted to speak with me about how I had managed it. We spoke for several hours. Eventually we made arrangements to meet again when I travelled to the West Coast.

 

I believe we both benefitted from these encounters although we have not kept in touch.

 

In addition, at the reunion itself, I was able to drink to excess, which I rarely do. The 25 years reunion class came together on the dance floor to do a version of the Village People hit YMCA. We had done performed this dance at the same dinner 25 years earlier as the graduating class. This reunion honors the new graduates, the 25 year and 50 year classes. It was interesting imagining the fates of the class leading and the class following. I hope to make the 50 year reunion.

[rocky]

Another great thread. Well my 45th reunion, I've gone to each of the "5" reunions and probably to this one. Upstate rural NY where men are men and sheep are scared. Would I ever come out, well not to the entire class but have some very close friends who I might. I'd love to show up with a date, not a boyfriend but a guy that goes with me from time to time. But these are people I spent the beginning of my life with, we have stories, good and bad, but some great memories. I do wish I could say, here I am..

[SuenosAmor]

No point really doing one less than 25 years. By then, you've become established, reached your goals, and got your shit together (well, most people anyway).

[kevininsa]

Went once and never again. Only saw people I would never want to see again...

As with many reunions, they are strictly for the "in-crowds"

 

This sums up my experience. I wasn't part of the "in crowd" and got no enjoyment from attending my 10 year. Haven't tried since. I keep up with the major happenings through our class FB page, but other than that I have no interest in associating with any of them.

[AdamSmith]

We have all invested mortal energies & effort into getting our past at long last dead and buried, and ending the pathology of time and again reopening and violating the tomb.

 

Let it rest in peace.

[+ poolboy48220]

@AdamSmith that's very much how I felt about going to the 50-year reunion of our high school's opening, an event where graduates from any & all years attended; that it'd be sort of sad people who had their best years in high school. That was probably influenced by a lunch with our childhood neighbor's family where one of their classmates (about 5 years older than me) attended and was pretty vocal that high school had, indeed, been the best part of her life. My sisters and some of my friends attended the 50-year and they said it was anything but what I'd expected, all said they had a lot of fun.

[AdamSmith]

My sisters and some of my friends attended the 50-year and they said it was anything but what I'd expected, all said they had a lot of fun.

Indeed likely. I've found great joy, back here in native Raleigh, in reconnecting individually, privately, one-on-one with a fair number of high school friends still living here. (Indeed with several of them -- a few quite unexpectedly! -- I have gone to bed. Lovingly, in the relaxed, unguarded security & comfort of middle age.) But big group things are just not my cup of tea these days.

 

Other than the occasional orgy!

[+ Axiom2001]

I didn't feel any kind of connection/bonding while in high school or college; thus I WILL NOT be attending my college reunion this year. Once I left (graduated), I've stayed gone forever. ...still receive well-done alumni mags though!