Geez, it REALLY has been 40 years since we graduated from High School… sigh… We’re officially a bunch of old farts now. I guess you could say we HAVE become our parents!
Why, you may ask, am I bringing this up? Well, last weekend was our 40th reunion and we had roughly 120 of 320mumble classmates show up. It was interesting to “step back in time” so to speak and try to pick up some of those pieces from many years ago.
Thankfully the folks in charge DID put pictures on the nametags, so we had a fighting chance at putting the teenage face with the adult face (of course that assumed we had enough brain cells left that could actually compute the changes); and that was BEFORE the beer… sigh…
On the bright side, all the guys got to look at women’s chests without getting in trouble for a change!!!
The guys were easier, we all still had out names, however the women usually had at least one more name attached, so it got interesting (to put it mildly)! Hairstyles or lack thereof have changed a ‘bit’ over the years for most people, but a couple of folks have got to have a painting of Dorian Gray hanging somewhere in their houses!
From the people watching aspect, the loud ones were still loud, the quiet ones still quiet, the fussy ones still fussy; it was like the personalities were just distilled down a little bit further (okay a LOT further) than 40 years ago. I really didn’t see any of the cliques and everyone was making it a point to talk too as many as they could.
Thankfully we have lost less than 30 classmates over the 40 intervening years, but those losses were remembered with a minute of silence. We also had people there who have been married 40 years too! Now THAT is pretty dang good in this day and age (and one guy that had been married 3 weeks)…
Lots of folks are retired or looking at retiring, some of the folks just didn’t fit their jobs (one guy became a banker, that just blew EVERYBODYS mind, based on what he was like in high school!), some fit to a T and others changed jobs like some people changed underwear!!! ☺
A couple of folks even said this was the first reunion they had made, and figured it would be the only one they would make, because we’re getting older and they didn’t know if they would be around for another one. Interestingly, those were folks that had never left town, and had never really cared to keep up with their classmates. While that is not unusual, it was just a bit weird to hear…
I also heard a lot of proud parents, talking about the kids, grandkids, and in one case great grandkids (they started REAL early).
There was a good bit of nostalgia, and when the school song was sung, most of us actually remembered it! How I remembered it I have NO idea, but I did… ☺
There were lots of pictures taken (by the class photog, who is still in action); lots of folks moving between groups, some bored significant others who didn’t know anyone other than their spouse, but probably got LOTS of ammunition for later on ABOUT their spouses…
I’m glad I went; I’m glad I stayed and talked to folks, and I hope we can stay in touch better than we have. There were good memories, and by and large I think it was a real success. We’ve seen some ups and downs, and more on the horizon as those with parents still living lose them, and as we age out and start losing more classmates we will be forced (yet again) to confront our mortality and what we’ve done in our lives.
Personally, I think we’ve done pretty damn good for our generation and ourselves! No movie stars, no heroes, no big politicians, no Nobel Prize winners; but a damn good bunch of folks who would and have helped another out any way they can.
I guess we really can’t ask for much more than that…
Nice Post! It is fun seeing your classmates as adults, and seeing how they turned out. It is almost as much fun as seeing your kids turn out to be responsible adults.
Glad you had fun! It is almost time for our 50th, but don’t know if it will be held. We had 740 people in our class, and I only keep up with one…my twin sister!
sounds like a great night … glad you had fun.
i’ve not gone to any of my school reunions .. but i have had some of my peers in the classes i taught since – which is a strange experience.
Good times! Don’t really know if I’ll go to the next HS reunion. Of course, the 20 would be coming up next year…
Want to make my 50th and see classmates someplace other than a funeral!
My wife attended her 35th reunion a few years ago. I had to work that weekend but she went and had a great time.
This year would have been my 45th reunion if we had one. We haven’t had one since the 10th.
In our graduating class of 144, 67 were male. All went into military service in one brand or form (we had a couple of Coasties.) Ten years later, there were only 15-16 still living. I don’t remember the exact number now. You see, we were a rural county during the high point of the draft. When draft levies were received, the state divided the number of draftees by the number of counties. Each county had to provide the same number of bodies. Our rural county had the same quota as did Cook County, Chicago. Now an equitable situation.
Our county had one of the highest casualty rates in the mid-west. Most were draftees in the Army, some were in the Marines, the remainder in the Navy or Air Force like me. It was so depressing, we haven’t had a reunion since.
I’m glad yours was much better.
Hi Jim- It was good seeing you and catching up a little, although we have been doing that through our blogs and posts. The 45th is going to be a cruise, something i pitched to Remica 5-6 years ago. Danny Gray asked me why we didn’t do it this time. I know you probably have your fill of cruises but not with these accomodations. By that time we will all be 62-63 range and more retired and able. Never know what the future holds. Wish we had of had more time to chat privately, but as you said alot of us including you and I worked the room. I spoke to Rodney Hamilton as you know since you linked up with him. Since I’m back in Texas I will start working on some mini’s for the boys and maybe a few of us can get toegther more often to Q and have a few, of course when you are in that area-Take care-
Linda- Thanks!
Julie- This is only the 2nd one I’ve made, and yeah, I can see where that would be a strange experience!
JR- It’s worth it 🙂
WSF- yep, that is always nice!
Crucis- I know what you mean, we were lucky, a couple of classes earlier had similar results. Survivor guilt plays into yours and many other situations, especially military reunions. We did a ‘joint’ reunion a couple of years ago for one of my squadrons with all the predecessor squadrons invited. Some of the folks were WWII vets and were STILL talking about how lucky they were, and how much guilt they felt for surviving!
Jeff- That works, please keep me in the loop.
Good on ya! High school makes more of an impression than anyone can imagine.
I went to a tough high school, academically rigorous. After four years in that hell-hole, college was easy. The first reunion was a drag, the twentieth was better, the thirtieth one was a blast and the fortieth is coming up next year.
Paw- Agreed! Ours was pretty rigorous too, and we all survived it! I’m SURE you will enjoy the 40th!