I have this mental image of a 30-year high school class reunion: men with bad comb-overs in polyester suits and women in floral dresses sharing pictures of their grandchildren. If that mental image is accurate, how did I come up to my 30th high school reunion this summer? I mean, c’mon, I’m not old…
Last week, a classmate from Nitro High School took the first steps to organizing a class reunion. My class has always had the advantage/disadvantage of falling in step with the Nitro High “All Class” reunions. I don’t think we’ve had a reunion of just our class since our 10 year. She created a Facebook group and started messaging classmates to see who was interested in doing something low-key the day after this summer’s all class reunion.
To help out, I started paging through my Facebook friends list to invite people who weren’t already in the group. That was an interesting exercise in itself. I’m sure I missed some people because I was trying to mentally sort through a friends list that has people on it from college, life after college, a professional career and classes before and after mine from high school. Several times, I saw a name on the list and had to stop and think “Were they in my class?”
Until Diana took the step to begin organizing a reunion, I was a bit apathetic. I mean, I’m still in touch with a few people from high school. But that was 30 years ago. What do we have in common now? And it’s not like I was the superstar high school student. It’s amusing to me just how little I am in my senior yearbook. Some people think of high school as the best time of their life. I had fun in high school. I had fun in college and I’ve definitely had fun since then. But I really don’t look back at high school with mist in my eyes.
Years ago, before I took off on some grand adventure, a good friend reminded me to “not get above my raising”. It was a simple admonition to remember where I came from and use that as a foundation. Paging through my friend’s list to find classmates, it hit me. High school is where we came from. High school was where it all started. I think a class reunion helps us to not get above our raising. It’s a great way to reconnect with the people we knew before life got in the way of our plans.
All of the sudden, I’m looking forward to my reunion this summer. But if I see anyone in a pastel polyester suit, I’m so out of there….