My wife and I are going to my 30 year high school reunion this Saturday. This will be the first one I've attended. I never particularly cared for most of the folks I went to high school with, and I've kept in touch with my close friends, so I always viewed dropping money on a reunion as unnecessary. But this year there was more chatter than usual about the reunion, and a few different folks asked if I was going. Some folks were on the fence, but several said they were definitely going. One guy I've only seen sporadically over the last 20 years, and one guy I stay in close touch with, so I knew we would have a good time, and woman I speak with occasionally because she lives near me, all said they were going. Like I've said, I haven't gone to any of the other reunions, and this is normally something I wouldn't do. So, because of the novelty (in part) and because a few other folks said they were going, I signed my wife and I up. As soon as I signed up and posted that I was going, I got a text from the aforementioned woman, asking if I was going solo, and informing me that she and a few of her friends were all going without spouses. Then I noticed that a crazy ex girlfriend signed up (put more than one glass of wine in her and she'll hump anything that will stand still long enough to let her). The misgivings started. Now, both guys mentioned above have backed out, and a few other folks who were on the fence have opted not to go. The misgivings have increased to a dull roar. Luckily it's local, so no serious travel is involved, and if this really sucks we can have some drinks, eat a nice dinner and head home. Still, I'm regretting signing up for this damn thing, and am more than a little pissed at the guys who backed out. Focus: Have you been to any of your high school reunions? Did you regret going, or did you have a great time? Any good stories?
I have never attended one of mine. But, this reminds me of the newest Geico commercial which is hilarious. Peter Pan is a dick.
I graduated in 1991 and went to my 10 year reunion with my smoking hot Russian girlfriend who had just turned 21 to try to rub in the fact that I had a hot younger woman and most of my 70 classmates did not. It got the desired reaction and I felt proud of myself for a few hours. The event itself was not really remarkable, it was nice to see a few people I had not seen since graduation but it was a 30 second conversation of "great to see you" , most of us went to a bar afterwards and hung out. Since then social media has made reunions a little less of an event, 50 or so of the 70 I graduated with are on facebook and instead of all getting together to talk about their lives you can see what is happening. I have not been to a reunion since.
My 10th HS reunion was a little over a year ago. There was a pretty active FB group about it which I largely disregarded. HS wasn't the most fun time for me, and I didn't keep in touch with many of my classmates, so I had little interest. Saw the pictures posted afterwards, mostly the cliques that I ran into when I was home for breaks that still all hung out together, and then some of the other random kids I never really talked to who had posted messages in the FB group like "are children allowed?" "can we BYOB?" Fuck all of that. My dreams of going back and banging chicks that hadn't been interested in me were dashed when I ran into a "popular" hot chick from HS at a bar in Chicago 2 years ago. Since HS, I grew about 3-4 inches, figured myself out, am a completely different person. She was still attractive but clearly had lost her fastball midway through college. She was with a mutual friend so I talked to her for a bit. She treated me with the same disdain she would have if I was still a 17 year old scrub, while falling all over a dude from HS who I knew failed out of 2 different colleges and was kicked off a D3 baseball team and knocked some girl up in college. But hey, he was super popular 10-12 years ago!
1 day out. I already know that a bunch of us are dead, at least one girl is now a man, another handful, including the star quarterback, came out of the closet, and one guy had to be rescued from a old iron mine shaft which he entered voluntarily. Several of my old classmates have openly advertised that they're going primarily to get laid. With any luck tomorrow night will provide a few stories to share.
I'm sure there have been a few threads like this before. I have changed since high school, though - I used to go out of my way to fit in but gave that up as it was gaining me nothing. I am not going anywhere near my high school reunion until I win the lottery, buy a Russian bride, etc. etc.. There would be no reason to go otherwise as my high school (and primary school) was guys only.
There's a line from "Grosse Pointe Blank" where the secretary is talking about her reunion and remarks "It was just like everyone had swelled". Pretty much like that. Mrs. Noland and I went to my 25th earlier this year. It was unremarkable. We spent the better part of the night talking to a girl I dated who was then and is still now pretty and fun and smart, so it was nice to see her. I talked to one of my more morally flexible friends who, unsurprisingly, became a mortgage broker and tried to get me to refinance, a few folks have completely vanished off the radar, some are crazy successful, and some look like life beat the shit out of them. Other than the familiarity of the names, they were virtual strangers and, while it wasn't a complete waste of time, I could have made better use of an evening out with the wife.
I graduated in '94, went to my ten year, then moved to Vegas and didn't make it back for the 20 year. If I were still local I'd go; it was a small school, interesting to see everybody, yadda yadda.
I haven't been to any high school reunions, but I did see a few old friends from high school (and before) at my dad's funeral, and I have to say it was quite uncomfortable... our paths have diverged so much it was like we were on different planets. They all stayed local, got a chick pregnant and married her, did the kid(s) thing, and the typical job of truck driver or real estate agent... whereas I fucked off right out of high school and did a lot of fun, non-typical shit, while having no kids. In a way, they were all so fucking boring... beyond boring, and any time I brought up some of the stuff I've done, or am doing, it was uncomfortable because they just couldn't relate. Sure, they loved their kids and families, but it's just something that I couldn't relate to as being the centre of my world and my primary experience in life. Quite honestly, high school was a shit period in my life that I have no reverence for, never mind any reason to celebrate, and I don't get the people who look at it as the "best time of their life" and live those memories for years and years.
Holy shit what a great party. Assuming that few of the folks there would remember me, I went on the offensive and shook hands with whoever I saw as soon as I walked in. I recognized more people than I thought I would, and vice versa. 30 years appears to have rounded off the rough edges on most folks, and everyone was pretty friendly. And some of the women looked outstanding. More on that below. The nice dinner thing didn't work out - in fact we were shocked at the lack of food. The high ticket cost (well north of $100 a head) all went to the unlimited open bar. If you wanted a pint glass of tequila, they damn well poured a pint glass of tequila, and handed you the bottle. The lack of food and the never-ending booze lent itself well to much shit-facedness, and the party had much more of a meat market vibe than I had expected. There were a boatload of drunk middle aged women who were either single or decided to fly solo. Two of them were ex-girlfriends of mine. The crazy one one greeted me almost as soon as I walked in, and later let on that she had been facebook-stalking me. The second was one of a set of twins. Both her and her sister came, and they looked fantastic. We talked for awhile, which led to awkward moment #1. The Mrsanthropic was with me, and the Twin proceeded to tell my wife, almost verbatim, some conversation the Twin and I had had while we were dating 20+ years ago. I was trying to figure out why she would even remember any of that, when she got uncomfortably close and started talking about how things had ended between us and how sorry she was things had gone the way they did. I managed to gracefully extricate myself from that conversation, and at the same time reassure her that life had indeed moved on. Another woman that I was friends with years ago decided to get handsy as the night went on, and she got more and more hammered. I was at the bar and as we were talking she was rubbing my arms, rubbing my back, put her hand on my ass. She then came over to where I was sitting with my wife and two other women and tried to sit in my lap, and once again had her hands all over me. Someone took a picture of us and posted it on Facebook, and its fucking hysterical because her hand is actually a blur in the photo because she didn't stop rubbing or touching me once the whole time. It was about that time that the Mrsanthropic, who had the patience of a saint and chalked things up to the booze, suggested we head home, a suggestion which likely saved me from a lot of trouble. It was a blast and I'm glad I went. Am I going to the next one? Probably not.
Holy shit, after hearing that story, I just might go to my next high school reunion after all. For the record, I didn't go to my 10 year reunion because I was in a state rehab facility, but realistically, I probably wouldn't have gone anyway.
I've never been to a high school reunion. I'm afraid that I'll start getting my ass kicked all over again.
I went to my 10 year in '09, and shortly thereafter started hooking up with a girl I had been friends with in high school, who was married to a guy with the same first name as me. He later intercepted a text I sent her, so that was the end of that. Good times, would go again. In fact, now I'm married to a girl I kind of knew in high school (completely unrelated to previous reunion antics) and I'll be interested to see how people react to that at the 20 year. And to see if my wife can get any of my former high school crushes into bed with us...