High School Reunion?

[Pamela H in Texas]

So I got an email about my high school reunion. I looked at it briefly and thought, "hmmm, how many years has it been?" All of a sudden, I think, "20!!!!" 20 years? Really? Already? But I haven't DONE anything. I still feel like I did 3 years out in a lot of ways.

 

Anyway, so have you gone to any?

Would you?

Who goes to these things? Anyone? everyone? no one? A subset or two (jocks and ???) ?

What did you think?

 

In a way it seems silly because, really, how many people could possibly seem anything like they did 20 years ago? Most will have gone to college, gotten married, had children, started a career (or two), changed beliefs about this or that. Really, aren't we all different, even if it seems like it was "just yesterday?"

 

I'm thinking of going. But I think I need to be talked into (or out of) it.

[Night Elf]

I didn't go. There wasn't a single person I wanted to see again. I didn't care for high school. I imagine the people who go are those who had lots of friends and care about seeing everyone again.

[Trish]

Mine was fun. People don't care what you do, they care how you look. (well I mean they're interested in what you do, but the girl from my class who works for CNN got no more attention than anyone else) The people were all nice except for one who decided to bring her high school persona, I guess. Bring pics of your kids! It was much more friendly than high school, in the sense of people being willing to talk to everybody, not just their "group." Just my experience.

[SJ.]

I didn't go to mine. High school seems like a lifetime ago for me, once I graduated I moved out of state and have barely been back. On facebook I noticed that most people who live in the area are still friends, I'm betting that is because I come from a teeny, tiny town. If I lived closer I may have gone but it wasn't worth it to me to travel across the country.

[MeaganS]

I didn't go. There wasn't a single person I wanted to see again. I didn't care for high school. I imagine the people who go are those who had lots of friends and care about seeing everyone again.

 

This. I graduated a year early last minute (like decided 4 weeks before school was over), so the class I graduated with, I don't even know. And even if I graduated with my planned class, I still wouldn't go. There are a few people I'd like to see from High School, but not at a reunion.

[BigMamaBird]

I really have no interest in going to one. Everyone I want to see I talk to on Facebook.

[DianeW88]

I went to a very small, all girls, private school, and we were all very close.i keep in touch with almost everyone in my class (120 girls in all), and I love getting together with them when I'm home. I also love when they come out here to ski and we can visit, so yes, I would go to mine in a heartbeat!

[Guest inoubliable]

I wouldn't go. It'll be 16 years for me this June. I haven't talked to a single person from high school in all those 16 years, I can't imagine purposely sharing an evening with them (and probably having to pay to do it!).

[Jean in Newcastle]

There are 6 of us in our class who have gotten together every year for the past 15 years. We graduated 30 years ago. Our conversation has long since stopped being about "do you remember when"? I've gone to 1 more formal reunion because it happened to be in town. Because I graduated overseas our formal reunions are in different places to give different people preference. Last year's was in Canada and I wanted to go but couldn't afford it at the time.

[Ottakee]

I went but wish I hadn't spent the $ on it. Sad to say it quickly turned into a mostly drunken fest for many of the people there---------and I came from a conservative Christian highschool. Ends up most of my friends from highschool that I would have cared about didn't come. Dh and I ate and left early.

[PachiSusan]

I have never went to a single one. I have no desire to reconnect with that time of my life. I have one friend I have kept all these years and I don't miss anyone else.

 

Sometimes there is a reason why people don't make it into your future or stay in your past. :)

[Word Nerd]

I went to my 20th and had fun catching up with classmates. I attended a very small school and had 30 people in my graduating class, most of whom I knew since kindergarten or earlier. I had a good experience in high school and was neither popular nor unpopular. I was a nerd, but I was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities and fairly well respected. One of my younger sisters had a horrible time in high school and refused to attend her reunion. I didn't blame her at all. YMMV.

[Dandelion]

I voted "other". My high school no longer exists. I went to a small, private American high school in Germany. It closed down a few years after I graduated (I graduated in '89). I guess it would still be possible to have reunions even after a school closes, but we didn't keep in touch and no one ever organized anything. If they had, I would have gone.

 

My DH goes to his high school reunions, and they're a lot of fun (he went to high school in Wisconsin, so we go when we can make the travel work with our schedule).

[MissKNG]

Our class never had one but I would go if we did.

[caroljenn]

I am also one who went to mine. Most of us had reconnected on Facebook, and some of us had gotten together already.

 

I really enjoyed it. It's funny how at the 5 year, no one had changed at all. The 10 year, people were still trying to impress each other but different quirks were starting to come out (married, kids, gay, bald, etc.). All of the women had on little black dresses. All of them, except me! Haha! The 20 year was much more relaxed- most of the people have a "this is me-deal with it" attitude by then! Most women wore nice jeans or slacks, sweaters or blouse and the guys were also more casual.

 

It's funny that most people still gravitate to who they were friends with in high school. Much more mingling, but you still have your comfort zone of close friends. I am looking forward to the next one!

[Mama Geek]

I have not gone to past reunions and probably won't go to any in the future.

[cathmom]

I went to my 20th. I hated high school and did not have tons of friends, but I enjoyed going very much. My dh knew some people from my class, so he didn't feel too left out. I felt a lot better about my weight after seeing everybody else overweight and some of the guys balding. No one that I really didn't want to see came so that was nice. The only thing I would have changed was that the music was way too loud for us to talk comfortably, which was all we wanted to do.

[Pawz4me]

Our class has one every five or ten years, but I've never gone. High school wasn't my favorite time. I do have three very close friends from high school, and we get together several times a year.

[Parrothead]

No I haven't been to one and have no desire to revisit the past.

[SKL]

I thought about it . . . for about 30 seconds.

 

I graduated early, so I didn't really feel like part of the group to begin with. They were nice enough people, but I didn't stay in touch with any high school friends. We all went our separate ways. 30 years ago, they didn't have reasonable ways for everyone to stay in touch. Now I live over an hour away, and I don't think I even receive the invites anyway. I don't think I'd like to go except maybe out of a morbid curiosity. (It was a very small-town/rural school in a humble area, so the people remaining close enough to attend a reunion probably would have been an interesting bunch, in an odd way.)

 

Heck, I didn't even go to our prom. I was too shy and didn't have a date.

 

I did go to the 5-year reunion for my law school. Once again, I didn't graduate with my original class, but I figured I'd still know people. Wrong! The women all colored their hair and changed their last names! I probably knew 2 people, neither of whom I ever liked. I felt really stupid and left as soon as I could.

[Luanne]

I went to my 10 year reunion. I didn't go to the 20 year reunion because no one I knew was going. I am planning on going to my 30 year reunion this summer though since I have reconnected with some of the people I went to school with via facebook.

[reign]

I did not go. My friend even planned it! I conveniently scheduled surgery for that week.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Only a few people have RSVP'd so far (email is just a couple days old). I know half of them.

I don't think I would have done it at 5 or 10 or whatever. But like mentioned above, now I'm "just me" and quite comfy with it.

And my "twin" is going.

And my hubby would be there.

And I didn't date people from my school (weird).

But.....I guess I keep thinking, "why?" I don't really have a good reason. Just cuz, to say I did, maybe a little curiosity?

[twoxcell]

I totally should throw a 20th highschool reunion. It would be an awesome day to myself since I was the only one in my class. :rofl:

[Starr]

I enjoyed my 10th and was in town for my millionth. I didn't go because it looked like it was all drinking related. The cops even showed up at one house during a cocktail party. Really folks, in your 50s?

[QueenCat]

I went to my 10year, it was fun. It was a family friendly day. Still a little cliquey but not too bad. Missed the 20 but will go the 30th this year.I know many of these people from kind- high school. We keep up on Facebook but are spread out geographically. I'm looking forward to it.

[melmichigan]

I have never been to one. It was entertaining that I was "found" and sent an invitation to my 20th, I've lived in the same small town I graduated from for the last 11 years.

[mumto2]

I voted other although I did go to my 10 year-- I graduated 30+ years ago. It was OK. I went with my 2 best friends from high school, the reunion was OK but we had a great week. Haven't gone again for a variety of reasons -- like I live in England! One thing that I found fascinating was the people I truly enjoyed seeing again were not the ones I expected to but they probably were my true high school friends. I would go since dh is willing to go to. It will be interesting and possibly fun!

 

Until we moved overseas I got together with a dozen college friends for a picnic each summer. That was great. Our dc's were the same age so lots in common still.

[Wildcat]

I have never been to one. It was entertaining that I was "found" and sent an invitation to my 20th, I've lived in the same small town I graduated from for the last 11 years.

 

 

Consider yourself "lucky" to have been found. I have lived in the same town since graduation and have never been found. Even my parents were still in town until a few years ago and had the same phone number that would have been in my school records.

 

May will be 26 years that I have been "missing".

 

I voted wouldn't/didn't. There honestly isn't anyone I want to see out of my graduating class of over 600.

 

 

ETA: Pamela, it sounds like you actually might have fun, so in your shoes, with the info you provided, I might just go! :)

[dhudson]

As I was homeschooled, it would have made a small reunion but we have gone to all of dh's.

[AngieW in Texas]

My dh encouraged me to go to my 10-year reunion. I was hugely pregnant with my middle dd at the time. I did meet a few people I knew there, but my high school was enormous, so I didn't know that many people. My graduating class was almost 800 people.

[Hoot]

I didn't have a horrible high school experience, in fact, it was perfectly average and even a lot of fun at times, but I have never had any interest whatsoever in attending a reunion. I had friends, but none I've kept in touch with or cared to reconnect with. Facebook has turned into the new high school reunion anyway.

[plansrme]

Well sure, if I were in the room already and did not have anything better to do, like clip my nails or clean out my purse or respond to a spam text. Otherwise, I can't say that I would cross the street to speak to anyone in my graduating class of 11. I do not wish them ill, but I have zero interest in maintaining a relationship of any sort.

 

Terri

[Mrs Mungo]

I didn't go, but I would have considered it, if I had lived nearby. I have gone to dinner and such with high school friends when I've been home or when they have been in my area.

[Crimson Wife]

My high school class didn't have a 5th reunion because nobody stepped up to organize it. My 10th was held two weeks after my DS was born and I didn't feel up to attending. By my 15th, I was living across the country and I had just been back a couple months prior for my grandma's funeral so I wasn't traveling again so soon. My 20th will be in 2 years so we'll have to see whether the logistics of it works out.

 

My college reunions are far too expensive for me to attend. I guess the organizers assume that all the alumni are wealthy, and while many of them probably are, I'm not. :(

[Belacqua]

I chose wouldn't/didn't go, but only because there wasn't a Would Rather Eat Bees option. As many of us have said: high school was fine, so I'm not responding to some horrible incident or traumatic experience. I enjoyed those years well enough. But I don't even like big gatherings of people I know, so traveling (to a city I hate, though I'd never say so to those who still live there) to attend a party for people I haven't seen for decades just doesn't sound like fun.

 

But crashing twoxcell's reunion? Now maybe I could get behind that idea... :)

[Desert Rat]

I haven't gone to any of mine to date.

I may have but.....

10 year reunion I was moving that weekend and besides, too insecure to see those people yet.

20 years we were in the middle of an 18 month layoff and it was crazy expensive! Like $250 for just ME to go.

25 for me is next year if they have one. I probably won't go to that one either.

 

Extenuating circumstances that influence my decision:

My friends in high school were a year older or a year or two younger.

Facebook has allowed me to talk to and reconnect with anyone I cared to find or who cared to find me.

I kept in touch with my close group of friends from high school throughout the years and still have a close relationship with many of them.

My path was so different from many of my classmates. I don't feel like comparing notes and criticizing or being criticized.

I'm so happy with who I am and the life I have built that going "backwards" serves no purpose.

 

FWIW, I had fun in high school. I did well and wasn't picked on or harassed. I just don't feel the need to spend money on a reunion.

Oh. And I was a punk rock girl in a high school - so not a member of any popular groups, although I did hang with the artists and theater people.

[bobbeym]

I haven't gone to any of mine. Most of my friends were older or younger, or moved away during high school. The ones I wanted to keep in touch with, I have. The rest I don't care about.

[BarbecueMom]

I skipped my 10-year reunion, which was two years ago. Other than weight and number of offspring, no one has changed. I gave them the satisfaction of gossiping about me and went out to dinner with DH instead. DH and I still have the same group of friends from high school, but since we were all in band, we're spread out over five or six graduating classes. A band reunion might be worth the party, but not my class.

[RoughCollie]

I went to three high schools, and I don't remember anyone, so I don't go to reunions.

[Unicorn.]

I went to my 10 and 20, and will NOT be going to my 30th. I'm in touch w/ the people I want to talk to and see thanks to FB, and the rest of them are still as stupid and juvenile as they were in HS. I have no desire to go back to another one. HS stunk anyway. I actually had fun at dh's 20th, but most them were kind of juvenile too.

[SunnyDays]

DH and I graduated together, so that helps. We went to our 5 and 10 year, skipped the 15 year, and this year will also be our 20th. I haven't heard anything about the plans yet, but we'll probably go if it works out. We still keep in touch with quite a few people, so it's nice to go see everyone.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Facebook has allowed me to talk to and reconnect with anyone I cared to find or who cared to find me.

I kept in touch with my close group of friends from high school throughout the years and still have a close relationship with many of them.

 

This is one of my arguments with myself about it. If any of us really cared to catch up with one another to any degree, we could always contact one another in another manner. Instead, we haven't chosen to do so for the most part. So why would use the reunion? Curiosity? Esp when I'm fairly certain it will not mean an ongoing relationship with anyone?

 

The other side of it is that actually it has caught my fancy.

 

Okay, so I asked hubby also. He is so not interested. I *know* I won't go without him.

[KungFuPanda]

I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed high school and had a good, wholesome, all-American experience of it. It was one of those small rural schools where the whole community came to the football games. (There was literally nothing else to do.) So many people in my high school were folks I'd known since elementary school, church parishoners, relatives, or all three. I WOULD have gone, but was too hugely pregnant to travel. I do occasionally chat with people on Facebook.

[Annie G]

Skipped all of mine, and the last one we had was 2 years ago when we all turned 50. We have a facebook group and while i have talked to a few old friends, after the initial 'what have you been up to' conversation, we really don't talk. And I really don't care- it's actually kind of depressing because the group mainly talks about which of us are losing parents, which classmates are having heart attacks, and stuff like that. I'm getting old- I acknowledge that!

 

Among my classmates, how we look doesn't seem to be as important as what we've accomplished. Blech.

[thebacabunch]

Heavens no. I would go to a college reunion in a heartbeat, but hs, eh eh. It wasn't horrible, but the only people I would want to see I see anyway.

[Mom in High Heels]

I went to a small all girl school and graduated in a class of 48 (the year before us had only 21, IIRC) and I loved it. I made lasting friendships. I went to our 15th, but couldn't make the 20th as we're in Germany and JB was away. I will absolutely go to our 25th in a few years. I've gotten together with several of them over the years and attended a wedding or two. I'm FB friends with all of them, included several from the years above and below (with it being such a small school, it was hard not to know pretty much everyone), and we keep up with each other and message all the time. I can't wait to see them all again.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Went, had a good time, caught up with folks. No trauma, no snark. It was lovely actually. And we all said how could it be 30 years?!

[G5052]

I went to my 10th, and enjoyed it. There was still enough connection to be meaningful.

 

I had a baby near my 20th, and flying back was out of the question.

 

When I got the invitation for my 30th, my father was in the hospital with what I knew was probably going to be his last illness. So I decided then and there that I'd look up a few people when I went out for his funeral, and that would be that. They put a lot of the pictures online, but it wasn't something that I think that I would have enjoyed.

 

I doubt that I'll go back for any others, and I really don't have an immediate connection to that immediate area now. DH hasn't been to any of his.

[Lizzie in Ma]

If there are some folks you care about seeing, then go!