High School Reunion Part 2

Blurry camera phone picture, sorry.  Andy thinks this one's funny though,
because I'm posing with him as if we're classmates from back in the day.

August 3, 2014
Day 95

Andy survived his 20th high school reunion.  It's important that we start there.  He's still alive.

It was abundantly clear from the very beginning that we were in for an adventure.  Andy's memories of people and high school in general were very muddled, but I told him to just relax and not worry, that his classmates would help him connect the dots.

His fear, though, was that no one would remember him, either.  I don't know if he was imagining a large, silent room filled with people not talking to each other, but the truth is, the place was sooo loud!  Everywhere you looked, people caught up with each other, in many cases for the first time in two decades.  And so many of them knew Andy!  He did have to look at some names to jog his memory of the face he saw talking to him, but others were in the same boat too.

Most of all, it was abundantly clear that everyone was just relaxed and happy!  They were happy to be seeing faces they hadn't seen in years, they were happy to just talk to old classmates without all the insecurities and harsh judgments of high school, and they were happy to see in the faces staring back at them that yes, no one had really aged that much anyway!

The people I met yesterday are all, mostly, one year younger than I am, as I graduated in 1993, but one of the fun things I wasn't expecting was to see people look at me as if I might be a classmate they'd forgotten.  People locked eyes on me in a fun way that I totally could've gone with if I wanted to.  "I'm Patrick O'Conner, don't you dare say you don't remember me!" I imagine I'd say, and, "Can you believe how much Liz looks exactly the same!"  If I wasn't worried about the repercussions, I totally would have done it, if even just for a few minutes.

Last night for me was like a social experiment.  I had none of the worries Andy or anyone else had.  For me, it was just about good drinks and fun conversation, lots of which included stories about Andy I'd never heard before (in some cases stories Andy hadn't heard since 1994), and an opportunity to see adults see each other for the first time, not just in 20 years, but I mean really see each other for the first time as adults.  High school is a place we're in from age 14 to 18, which in the big scheme of things means we're all still children.  We have mood swings and ego issues, growth spurts and acne, low self-esteem and high sex drives.  Twenty years after the fact, classmates at a high school reunion are now literally seeing new versions of their old friends for the very first time.

People change after high school, and that's a very good thing.  Looking around the room last night, I saw no cliques or groups, no separate circles or judgmental faces (although I did hear speak of high school-like whispers in the ladies room).  No, last night was about people coming together, whether or not they were close friends in high school.  It was about reminiscing and catching up, yeah, but mostly, it was about joy.  Everyone was just joyful to be there, and they were having fun saying goodbye to long-forgotten judgments and saying hello to the new adult life they are now all living.

In the car ride on the way there, Andy joked to me, "I don't know why I signed up for this.  This is so weird."  But on the way home, he was very happy to have gone.  He was happy to have seen old friends and classmates, and just felt a glow at what he'd just experienced.  He had survived his 20th high school reunion intact.  Whew!

It seemed that, for the most part, everyone there last night was living their own personal happily ever after.  I think if you asked the kids graduating high school back in 1994 what they really wanted from their lives 20 years later, some part of their answer would probably include the word "happy".  So I have to say in closing, it was just really great to see so many truly happy people last night, one of whom I had the distinct privilege to come back home with!