Jan Berte
Wow! I can’t believe another high school reunion is coming up soon. Every year at this time, there are planned high school and college reunions which can be fun and exciting. Since my reunion usually happens every five years or so, I still seem shocked as to how the time flies by so quickly.
I want to be honest and say that my last attended reunion was a mixed bag. I had bumped into a former classmate and we decided to go to the reunion with another classmate. The reunion was at a lounge/restaurant of sorts at a hotel which was appropriate for most reunion gatherings. As I walked in the room that evening, I felt intrigued since you never know who has changed dramatically and will you remember their name.
At first, I thought most of the people were nice and engaging. One of the men who was a band student asked me right away if I wanted to do shots with him. Since I don’t drink, I had to bow out of that one, plus heavy drinkers make me feel uncomfortable. As I walked around shaking hands and hugging classmates, I did notice several classmates were rude, and many couldn’t even say hello to me. It wasn’t just me, but other people didn’t get the big hello greeting either so I knew not to personalize it.
The few that couldn’t muster up a hello were the same ones that were snooty in high school. One was a former jock and the other was this woman who thought she was a supermodel and also part of the Mensa group-neither of which is true. I was so appalled by their bad manners that I wanted to remind them that we are officially out of high school.
The cliques were still going strong and a few would meander and break out of their high school circles, and ask me and others how we were doing.
I think people feel awkward and want to impress you with a spiffy career title, and if they don’t have it then we can’t associate with you. As a Writer and an Organizational Expert, I am not sure if I fit under those typical pretentious titles. Some of the men and women who were either nerds or heavy partiers seemed quite friendly to me. Unfortunately, there were three that had passed away due to cancer, gun accident and suicide.
As I continued through the parade of good and not so good, I kept saying that this cannot be happening after all of these years. However, I was pleased to chat with some interesting classmates who really did have fabulous careers and were kind as well. Most of the women and men looked good overall with a few that needed a little nip and tuck. The one heavy partier from high school was still blitzed out of his mind as I walked by him, and I am not quite sure as to how he made it this far in life. A couple of the women changed facially and physically where I had to take a double look. Mostly all of the changes in everyone were subtle, but a few of the ladies had hair styles that were coiffed by Lady Gaga.
Thankfully, the DJ put some music on, since I couldn’t repeat what my career was to another person. As I danced on the floor with another schoolmate, I noticed one of our former honor roll Alumni fell repeatedly to the floor. This was due to heavy drinking and I noticed she was airing her dirty laundry as she was hauled away to the bathroom.
After staying a few hours, I was glad I went, since the majority of my classmates were personable– but for the ones that weren’t, Alice Cooper couldn’t have said it better- “School’s out forever.”