Reunions Part One

Saturday night, I observed the grads from 1984 at their reunion. My husband was one of them. Wow! There were a lot of middle-aged people there. It was like standing in the middle of a group of their parents about twenty-five years ago.

The organizers had done a lot of work to get the reunion together. They offered a golf game on Friday, an informal get-together on Friday night, and a dinner Saturday night. My husband tried his hand at the golf game, and we both attended the dinner. It was a blast from the past, with music and artifacts from the graduating year. The valedictorian addressed the crowd, and a classmate who is a recording artist sang a few songs. There was trivia about various grads - their past interests and exploits in the real world. A PowerPoint of their grad photos played during dinner, which one could watch - and then have fun, trying to identify which person in the room was on screen. Some people still looked mostly like themselves; others assumed different identities with hair loss, and weight gain.

In his speech, the valedictorian talked about graduation night. He said that probably no one in the group could remember the speech he gave. He admitted that neither could he. But he could remember the word picture that he drew- one of a journey in which the grads were just climbing aboard the plane, unsure of their destination, but excited to go places of which they'd only dreamed. He continued with his illustration by saying that many of the grads were now beginning their descent. No one was quite sure if that was a good thing or not. I am sure some in the room wondered if their plane was going straight down.

After the speeches and trivia, everyone went outside for a picture and mingling [good job we all had name tags] with each other. Everyone took home a copy of the PowerPoint to look at later. The best pictures were at the end - one with a group shot and a thank you to the grads for allowing the grad committee to catch up with them; the next was a group shot as well - all of senior citizens with a cheery "see you in 25 years".

Afterwards, my husband and I came home and he reminisced about various people in the group - where they had fit into his life in those years, and where they were now. I think the weekend trip down memory lane tired him out. I was tired, and I didn't even grow up with those people.

It was definitely interesting to watch what happens at a class reunion. I know for sure I wouldn't be interested in attending a reunion for my own high school. I can't even remember names of my classmates, except for a very few. And imagine the physical changes that have happened in that time! If I can't remember their names, how would I ever get through trying to remember their faces. It might be fun to put on a different name tag and go through the evening as the star volleyball player (if only I could remember who that was) or one of the Asian twin boys who walked away with all but two of the major awards on grad night. I think I'll leave well enough alone and let those years fade into the distant past. I am content to be an observer of what a grad reunion is all about.