Need advice from those who went to their 10-year HS reunion

[MysticalChicken]

My ten-year highschool reunion is coming up in a month. I'm not sure if I want to go. There are a few people that might be there that I don't care to ever see again in my life (one of whom has been my archenemy since second grade, and who I think is probably a right-winger now). Besides this, I was not popular at all in highschool, and I don't think it's any but the people who were popular who are going to have any fun.

Part of me is hoping, however, that it will be like the movie Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, with me being something like Heather Mooney--"I see I've interrupted you again. Why don't you just go back to ignoring me like you did in high school?" I'd probably use that line at least once. And I'd have to do the little affected smile and head-cock.

[LaraMN]

1. I had fun at mine.

I got along with most people in high school, but at the reunion, one girl (our homecoming queen) whom I wasn't fond of (she was NASTY to alot of other girls) tried to make conversation with me. She asked what I was doing, in that faux-interested tone of voice.

I told her I was going to school to be a detective, and that I spent most of my spare time training Shetland ponies.

It would have been really amusing, except my best friend blurted out "Lara!" and the ruse was up.
I rather enjoyed laughing at the stupefied look on her face, though.

Go to it, if there are people you want to see. Screw anybody you didn't/don't like- they're insignificant, anyway.




:bounce:

[MysticalChicken]

2. Oh my god.

"I told her I was going to school to be a detective, and that I spent most of my spare time training Shetland ponies."

Oh my god. Can I use that? I might tweak it a little...

[LaraMN]

4. It was what popped into my head, in that moment.

I was lucky something even weirder didn't come out.
You can use it.
I could've come up with better, had I not been put on the spot.

Everyone who went to school with me knows I'm prone to say and do odd things, so the fact that she appeared to be taking me seriously, even for a few seconds, cracked me up.

[DS1]

3. Nah, I figured 32 was too old

;-)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. It was gratifying

I was in a Ph.D. program at a well-known university and had just come back from Japan. The "mean girls" were all on their second or third marriages, and most had whiny kids. Most of the "mean boys" didn't show up.

It was my first inkling that people who are mean in high school are mean because deep down, they know that high school is the high point of their life, that it's all down hill from there for them, and that the people they're picking on now will have more interesting lives than they ever will.

When ever any adult tells a teenager, "High school is the best years of your life," I have to wonder how dreadful their subsequent life must have been.

[SeattleGirl]

6. Mine was pretty good, especially when I saw the other "not cool kids"

looking cool AND doing well, and lots of the "cool kids" had amounted to a whole lotta nothing! :rofl:

I know, I'm bad, but given the grief some of the people gave me in high school, I couldn't help it!

I also have to say I had fun seeing lots of friends I hadn't seen in a few years.

[MysticalChicken]

26. There's a theory...

...that I actually heard somewhere, that said something to the effect of the less popular you were in highschool, the better you turn out to be when you're older.

[RushIsRot]

7. I did not attend the 10th, but I've been to every one since and we

are now up to our 50th in '09. I had so much fun at the 20th that I was determined to not miss another even though during high school I was never a part of the in crowd. In fact, I was never invited to a single party. I moved back to my home town a bit before the 30th and was selected to be the class treasurer. I have served in that capacity for the 40th and the 45th reunion. I think we have all matured since the days of high school and it was great to see the familiar faces -- even though a bit older than I had remembered them. I highly recommend attending reunions. They are fun.

[LeftyMom]

8. Mine is coming up next year.

I'm not planning on it but I absolutely hated high school.

I ran into a classmate a few months back and she was looking forward to it already (this is the only reason I know there is one, it would never have crossed my mind otherwise) so I suppose it's a matter of personal taste. I hate social occasions, and most of my friends back then weren't the same year as me so I really have no interest.

[begin_within]

9. My sister has always gone to hers and had a great time. I have never gone to mine.

My 30-year reunion is coming up this fall. I feel like those people are part of some previous life or some old movie I was in. It would be strange to see them in person now, like the dead come back to life. I guess I wasn't close enough to any of those people to want to see them again. If I haven't kept in touch with any of those people for 30 years, then what would I have to say to them? What would we talk about? Memories we never had together? Only out of curiosity to see what they look like now and what their lives turned out to be. The former homecoming queen who's been through a couple of bad marriages and walks around muttering to herself. The nerd who is now a multimillionaire CEO of a software company. The football captain that just came out last year as gay. That sort of thing.

[greenbriar]

10. GO

wear your most sexy clothes and have your hair great


enjoy

[Nevernose]

11. If you actually LIKED any of them, you'd still be talking to them, right?

If you actually LIKED any of them, you'd still be talking to them, right?

The ones who WERE important enough in your life to still talk to (I mean actually look up, not bump into in a Starbuck's or something), you'd still be talking to them, right?

Screw 'em. You are who you are NOW (and possibly) who you'll be tomorrow: not who you were when a child ten years ago. If you want to feel superior to other people, then by all means go; if you want to get on with your life, then by all mens do so.

[Left Is Write]

17. Not necessarily. There were plenty of people I liked in high school...

I didn't stay in touch with all of them after graduation.

[JVS]

20. You speak the truth! It is easy to lose contact with people

[MysticalChicken]

27. Well, I do have one of them on my MySpace

and talk to her occasionally (she's the one who sent me the message about the reunion). But all my other friends are actually a year younger than me, as I technically didn't actually graduate in 1997 although I was supposed to (I didn't pass history--flame away if you wish. I hated it then. However, I love it now). I told her that I actually graduated in 1998 and she wrote back and said that she was sending out invitations to everyone who is the correct age and there's no rule that says I can't go.

There's only one or two people that I'm really interested in seeing, including one guy who aspires to be a filmmaker. Everyone else can suck it.

I would definitely go to the 1998 reunion. I still hang out with a few friends from that year.

[hfojvt]

12. you need to remember the formula for glue

Ordinarily when you make glue, you need to thermoset your resin ...

I am not sure what it takes to have fun. Most of my classmates fell into their old groups and got drunk. I went around and tried to see everyone there. Plus I had this cute girl that I never talked to in stiches. I told her I was looking for the 'geek table'. Unfortunately, many of the people I wanted to see, my fellow braniacs and band geeks, were not there. Plus, the one girl that I asked to dance, who I have known since the 3rd grade, turned me down. I felt kinda bummed to, since I did not have a job at that time and I had spent seven of the ten years going to college. It was like I had not done anything since getting out of school except goto school.

[MysticalChicken]

28. Yay!

Another Romy and Michele reference! I need to look up that entire line.

(I actually don't own that movie although I love it. I hated it the first time I saw it, though, because I saw it on ABC Family Channel and they'd cut out about a third of the good scenes and all the curse words. Heather Mooney does NOT say "flake off." Then I saw the uncut, uncensored version on HBO and was like "Okay, yeah, this is MUCH better.")

[bluedigger]

13. Unless you hate 'em all, GO!

The wallflowers are hot, the hotties are not! Most of the over-achievers peaked in h.s. The mean people don't show up much cause they know they got it coming and bullies are cowards. And some people do manage to just grow up after all. Party like it's 1999 (or whatever) cause this group of pals will probably know you better than any other for the duration of your life outside of your immediate family. It's hard to maintain contacts for many in today's mobile society-enjoy!

(My 30th next year - WTF!)

[Lasher]

14. I went but once is enough.

I was a geek in HS. I felt shunned by the in crowd just like I was back then. And just like I've read upthread, we nerds all ended up fairly successful and the in-crowd was a pack of losers. Between jobs, just launched a new career bagging groceries, things like that. Ugly too. Some of the people were hot but the early bloomers of high school days were all oinkers.

This part seemed odd to me: Most of the program was spent with attendees doing great big loooooong eulogies for each of our classmates who had died. I thought it was supposed to be like a dance or party or something but it was more like a mass funeral with a reception afterward. I don't know if this is done at other reunions but I didn't like it.

[Hekate]

15. I've only been to two, the 10th and 25th.The 25th was so gratifying I never went to another!

In high school I was a nerd with thick glasses, a bit socially awkward, and on a really short leash with my mom, who didn't believe I should be doing extracurricular activities unless my grades met her standards, which they never did. Jr hi was hell, and a lot of high school was not fun but at least not hell. My senior year was good because I had a boyfriend who was nuts about me; he was a saxophonist so many of our friends were in the band.

But my family moved away immediately after graduation and I lost touch with nearly everybody, reconnecting with only a few in later years.

One of those people talked me into coming to the 25th, and it ended up being a great experience. The key was that I felt good about my own life, what I was doing, and how I looked (I had ditched the glasses as soon as I could buy contacts for myself, for one thing).

I had some really nice conversations with some of the women who were popular and involved in things back when (the ones who were never mean, just involved in all those extracurricular activities my mom thought were a waste of time), and was able to tell them how I was on a County Commission and all the other things I was interested in and doing while finding out about their lives too. Turns out I was a joiner at heart all along.

I found out which high school sweethearts married, who were already grandparents, and so on. I was sorry there wasn't a special In Memoriam table, because I know some of the boys died in Vietnam and I only know the name of one of them. AIDS was taking some by then too.

There were some surprises, like a guy who had grown up to be a firefighter and turned out to have had a big crush on me all those years ago. Who knew? It was very touching and sweet.

There were other surprises, too. A couple of girls who hadn't been able to stand me in high school, one of whom was really unpleasant back then, grew up to be women who were equally unpleasant when I gave them the big hello two and a half decades later. A complete mystery, and one which I no longer gave a damn about -- which felt really good. Neither of them looked happy with their lives. Funny how that works.

Seriously, I didn't think that experience could be topped for me, so for that and other reasons I never went to another reunion. By now another 17 years have gone by and I scarcely remember these people. I did post a brief bio on my high school alumni website though, and I read some of the other bios.

That's it: go with the expectation that you'll have a good time and present the parts of your life that you are really happy with. No defensiveness! My 10th reunion was only so-so, although I did get some good natured ribbing about being 7 months pregnant -- apparently they were under the impression I was going to remain a virgin for life. By the 25th, so much life has gone by that whatever you were in high school is kind of a dim memory.

Hekate

[triguy46]

16. Oh you have to go, just to see people humiliate themselves...

At my wifes 10th, we're walking to the car and one of her classmates stops in front of us and pukes in her purse. It brings things into such good perspective.

[Left Is Write]

18. I went to my 10th and my 20th. Both were good, but the 20th was better.

People were still trying too hard to impress each other at the 10-year reunion. The 20th was much more fun, and people were much more real.

The 20th was such a success, there has already been talk of a 25th (which would be two years from now).

[AwakeAtLast]

19. I have always had a good time at mine

My class was the overachieving class - we made the most money ever, took our prom off campus and were allowed to take a class trip (no class since ours has done any of those things).

We have had a reunion every five years, and our 20th will be next summer. Last time my sister's class joined us (she is a year beind me) so that they could have a decent reunion. They had only had one, and it was a drunken bash at someone's pond on a farm.

I would say to go, because you never know who will show and what will happen. As an example, at my 5 year, one of my classmates showed up with her THIRD husband! We all were wondering if she was wanting to be a real life Erica Kane!

I would bet you there is at least one person who is looking forward to seeing you, you just don't know it!

Have fun! :hi:

[JVS]

21. If you don't go, people will assume that you were too busy sitting in your trailer watching COPS

;-)

I'm going. I have to represent, yo! Besides, even people who I remember cooled relations with always are saying hi to my mom at the grocery store back home, so I figure there is some easing back from the pressures that existed at the time.

[ceile]

22. I regret not going to mine.

I was splitting from a long term relationship and just didn't feel up to it. I have regretted it ever since. I think it would have been just the thing. A lot of the girls I hated were on their third divorces and as many kids. People had gotten fat, the unpopular people were business owners, lawyers, etc. I would have loved to have heard about people's accomplishments (and failures :evilgrin: ).

Just my two cents, but I do hope you go.

[trogdor]

23. Dublin (Ohio) HS Class of 1981 - nothing.

25th anniversary last year. Nothing. Nada. Nichts. Bupkis. Went to the school webpage to see if they lost track of me, nada. The Class of 1956 had their 50-year. The Class of 1996 had their 10-year (I think). Our class of non-school-spirit having good-for-nothings? Nothing. Nobody cares. It's just as well. I don't think there were more than five people who could stand to be around each other for more than a few minutes, anyway. I'm in Upstate New York, and I doubt I would have made the trip if I got an invite. But it still sucks.

[KitchenWitch]

24. I was a social pariah in high school - and I went to my 15 year reunion

It was funny. All the cliques stayed in their groups and all of us fringe people were the ones having a great time.

[Bassic]

25. I had a really great time at mine

Truly it was one of the funniest nights I'd had in a while.