OUR LIFE IN 3D

Pearls

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I have been away for so long. It’s that time of year again when the kids are in school and I need a personal assistant to remind me what today is, where I am going, what kid is doing what after school, and what the plan for the weekend is.

I love it!

Actually, I have been real distracted this past September. You see I had a xxth high school reunion the last weekend of the month and I was more than a little jittery about it.

I mean, I live over 10 hours away from my home town. I don’t see these people..EVER! I have been a bad classmate and outta touch, hence cast aside and forgotten. Or so it seems sometimes. I have only been to two reunions so far and the last one was 10 years ago.

A lot can change in 10 years!

I just had more than a few mixed feelings about going to this one. But I decided to go any way. There were a few people I really needed to see and reconnect with. Still, I was unsure how it all would go.

Do any of you go to your reunions?

Do you put yourself through this?

Well I found whenever I am anxious about the unknown, if I prepare for it and do some research, no matter how intimidating the event, if I am prepared the outcome always turns out fine.

Know what I found?

Lots of people go through a similar progression of feelings that I put myself through.

So I did some research on high school reunions and here are some common points I found that most people go through when faced with an upcoming high school reunion. See if you see yourself here:

Progressive 14 Thoughts That Inevitably Happen When You’re Invited To Your Next High School Reunion

1. You receive the invitation and immediately think “OH HECK NO!”

You discard it on your messy table and move on.

2. You come across it a few days later and begin to think what it would be like.

I mean, it might not be that bad, right? RIGHT?!

3. You start to wonder what everyone from high school is REALLY up to.

I haven’t noticed much on Facebook lately.

4. You wonder how it has been this long since high school.

What? How many years?

I feel like I graduated like last year. RIGHT? I am not THAT old!

5. Then you think that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. You should really think about going.

I mean, people probably want to see me, right?

6. You start scheming your plan of attack.

What I will wear, what I will say, and how I will make my high school crush SO SORRY that she stood me up and let me go!

7. And planning your very serious workout regime.

Because I hafta am going to look HOT AS F*CK  AS YOUNG AND NON-GROTESQUE AND DEFORMED AS POSSIBLE!

8. Then you dive deep into the some serious Facebook creepin’.

You know, because I need to know what to expect.

9. You discover that you might not be quite as successful as some of your peers.

“What? You are the CEO of what?”

10. You look up some of your old high school friends and see if they are planning on attending.

I didn’t really think I would have time with my busy schedule, but surprisingly I think I can make it after all! As long as I don’t have to walk in by myself.

11. You show up.

And get mad when people say I haven’t changed much. YES I HAVE, OK? I LOOK LIKE A FRICKIN TROLL!

12. You chat with some people.

Some I don’t even recognize so I have to wait for someone else to use their name. And none of them are impressed with me as I want them to be.

13. You decide to leave.

It’s hot. It’s loud. No one cares that I am here. And I ask myself why I ever thought this was a good idea.

14. You vow to never go again.

Until the next invitation comes.

Real friendship, like real poetry, is extremely rare – and precious as a pearl.” Tahar Ben Jelloun

You know what? I had a really good time!

First, you don’t know the reputation that my class and classmates had. While we were still in Jr. High we were the gossip of all the other classes above us in the Sr. High. We were losers, drunks, lazy, and problem kids that “couldn’t plan past the upcoming weekend”….back then. But we still seemed to somehow how pull it together our senior year and accomplish some unimaginable things, together, as seniors.

Still, I went in with my built up anxieties. You know….Will they remember me? Will anyone care? I’m an outsider now. I am old as dirt now, used up, rung out, hairier than a troll, and look like I am older than Moses. ….My cannons don’t thunder. There’s nothin’ to plunder. I’m an over fifty victim of fate…but I still had a great time.

Oh sure I arranged for some important people to escort me into the event to add some credibility to my presence.

And yes, we met at the bar before hand to lose my inhibitions loosen up before meeting everyone.  But hey! My favorite college football team was on TV! I couldn’t miss that, reunion or not!

And despite all my month-long pent-up anxieties before hand I did have a really memorable time AND I discovered several things about myself and my classmates that I had never considered before.

Such as:

1. We have some good-looking people in my class. Everyone really looked great at this reunion! Speaking from a male point of view, all the ladies looked amazing! Where were all you beautiful gals when I was in high school? You weren’t in my class! I never would have run to the other team 40 years ago if you were! Oh wait… that didn’t sound good…. I mean I wouldn’t have ran to the other school for a date. Gosh, I’d like to point you all out individually but I am afraid I would miss someone. So I think ALL sums it up.

   2. I was in a room filled with great looking and successful people not to mention amazing parents…..from my class! I was really impressed! It’s funny how some hard work and a good education (which many of us shunned 40 years ago) can erase any tags we carried, whether self-imposed or cast on by others. There were no losers or geeks at this festivity! Just a room full of celebrities that deserve some respect. Some Pearls with Wisdom..

3. At a 53ish 35^th reunion we no longer need bellies full of alcohol to show how grown up we are. Been there. Done that. I saw a lot of people nursing glasses of wine and bottles of beer, even hitting glasses of water (me) instead of a drink. I found I no longer need two beers in my hand as a badge of honor or drinking double shots to prove I am ‘fun’. Well OK most of us had at least one or two (five) …. BUT…. We all had a lot of fun….and we still made our 7am wake-up call or Sunday morning church service. Right ladies?

4. I found I went to school with a lot of important people. They just hadn’t told me when I was in school with them. Some might have been a little rough back then, some might have been quiet, some might have been cliquish but pearls just the same. Don’t I feel like a fool for being the punk I was. I mean, damn, you all are impressive! Successful! And good-looking! Who knew? My Class of 80?

5. Everybody has their share of troubles or obstacles they have to face sometime. No one is exempt. But if we all stick together, as the close class we grew to be, we can get through these times together in the future. Most of what I am talking about pertains to our aging parents. I heard lots of stories there. Some of us have our own health issues now to deal with. We all have, or will have these things, now that we are ‘grown up’. No need to hide. Stick together, talk with a friend and take care of one another. I think that is how we make it through the next 35 years. Then there will a party at Kelly’s house when it’s over. Wait! The next reunion is at my place! Come on and join us if you aren’t too old.

 

I took an old good friend to the airport the next morning to catch an early morning flight and then had a 10+ hour car ride home. I was reflecting back on the prior evening on the ride and smiling the whole way home.

How soon can we meet again?

What a treat it was to see all my old classmates again, whether they were actually the friends I ran with back then or not. What great people they all turned out to be. Them, or us, my Class of 80.

We were no longer the jokes or the gossip of our other high school peers. Everyone came out of their shell and are now shining brightly on their own and with their spouses.

Gems! Stars! Pearls!

Some people love to lead

And some refuse to dance.

Some play it safely,

others take a chance.

Still it’s all a mystery

This place we call the world…

Where most live as oysters

While some become pearls.”

~Jimmy Buffett