reunion, part one

I’d had a hunch that the high school reunion would be a positive experience. So far, so good. Everyone was friendly and polite and genuinely seemed to wish everyone else well.

It’s a strange sort of bond I have with these people, having spent 13 years knowing most of them very well and then not seeing them at all for a quarter of a century, with two minor exceptions. (That’s not true for all of them, of course, since many of them still live in the area and see each other constantly.) There are things I can tell these people that none of my best friends could possibly understand, no matter how much backstory I made them endure. And since the ages of 5-18 only happen once and are so very formative, there’s something special about this group of people even though I’ll probably continue to see them only once every 5 years at most.

Out of a class of 75, about 20 were there tonight, but around 45 are expected for the bigger event tomorrow.

Our whole class is still alive, as well, with the exception of one who died in 8th grade in a tragic accident near my home. But of course there were a few sad stories about the parents of classmates.

On the whole, though, it was one of the more upbeat occasions with which I’ve been involved in recent years. I’m now sorry that I wasn’t able to arrange to come to the 20th, as I had also intended. I’m not sure I’d have wanted to come any earlier than that. By now, we’re all early middle age and pretty much set on our chosen life paths, and people basically seem welcoming and comfortable with themselves.

As a general rule, the women were more recognizable as the same people than the men. Two of my male classmates were utterly unrecognizable until I was told who they were.

I think I may try to come back for the 30th as well. This one is off to a really nice start.