Last weekend, I headed south to LA to attend my 20th (yes, 20!!) high school reunion. I attended my 10th reunion without any hesitations, but was a little skeptical of heading back for this one. Two decades had passed in the blink of an eye. Who would I see there? What had really changed since the 10 year? Would as many people who were so fired up about it actually show?
I’m not one of those people who thinks that my glory days were in high school. Honestly, I don’t even think I’ve hit my glory days yet; however, I do have very fond memories of my time as a Lancer at Bishop Amat High School. While there is a bit of trench warfare mentality here (let’s face it, high school can have some brutal and awkward moments), we all survived together and the ties that bind us are very strong ones. While I wouldn’t necessarily go back and relive those four years, I would very happily return and visit with my classmates again. I spent hours, days, weeks and years with these people. I couldn’t wait to catch up with them.
To put it into perspective, here are some examples of how close the class of 1992 was: two of my oldest friends went to school there…and by oldest I mean in the sense that I’ve known one of them since Kindergarten and one quite literally since birth (we were born at the same hospital four days apart). I worked with two of them in my first marketing job after college; one of them is the husband of my incredible editor, Gabriella (she’s in the pic above!); one is like a second older brother to me and we schedule time to watch shows on netflix since we don’t live close to each other…the list goes on and on and on. I’ve stayed in contact with my circle of friends and based on what I saw at the reunion, most of the class has stayed in touch, one way or another. It’s a rare and beautiful thing that you can not see a group of people for years (be it 2, 5, 10, or 20) and still pick up right where you left off.
I’ve wondered in the week since the reunion why more people didn’t attend. Before I actually decided to go, I talked about my dilemma on Facebook and Twitter. Most of the people who decided not to go pointed to Facebook giving them access to their classmates and why spend the money to sit around and talk with people who they already “talk to” online. My answer to that is nothing replaces human interaction. I’ve commented on countless posts and pics on FB, but that was just the jumping off point for conversations at the reunion. Not once did I find myself saying, “well, I guess we don’t have anything else to talk about” or “yeah, I saw all that on FB.” There was a lot of laughter and hugging going on at our reunion. All the high school bullshit (if there ever was any) from so many years ago is clearly well behind all of us.
Since I’m a writer, I love hearing stories. I love hearing what people have done with their lives and all the interesting twists and turns they’ve had since we all parted two decades ago. Some are doing exactly what they set out to do (like a classmate who is a Deputy District Attorney), others have done all kinds of things and have enjoyed the experiment. It’s also a very humbling personal check, because it showed me how far I’ve come and how my life has changed in ways I didn’t even dream of when I was 17. Those are precious moments that I will always look back on fondly.
If you’re thinking about going to your high school reunion, don’t hesitate and just go!
Until next week (and my next obsession)!
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