Corbis
My ten-year high school reunion will be going down this summer. And even though I’ve known it was on the horizon since…I graduated, I can’t say I’ve been actively considered whether or not I should go or skip it entirely. High school was a blur for me. I really remember very little actually, with the exception of working for the school newspaper, my awesome English teachers, ki-ki-ing, plotting and planning with my best friend, attending epic basketball games and the girls on my volleyball team who I loved and still love.
But everything else was very meh.
I remember wanting, needing, yearning to graduate so I could leave behind my hometown and a lot of the small-minded, intolerant people who lived there. I was ret to go! But now that I’ve lived away from home for going on six years, I relish the times I get to go back…for a week or two. Home is, **Cliche alert** where the heart is.
Anyway, now that the reunion is upon us, there is a bit of a discussion about what people want it to be. Some are calling for it to be live. Some are calling for it to be lit. And others are calling for it to be family friendly. For those of you who are unsure what family friendly means, they want to go to a location that is acceptable for children and they don’t want alcohol to be served.
As I said, it’s been ten years, so naturally people have had children since we graduated. And that’s fine. But–and maybe this is just because I don’t have children of my own– I do not want to be bothered with anybody’s children running around our reunion. I don’t drink so the alcohol thing is not personally a big deal to me; but I know quite a few people who enjoy a little imbibe every once in a while. And as the consistently sober one, it’s quite funny to watch people in various states of inebriation.
What some of my fellow classmates are proposing sounds like a glorified play date for all of the Baby Mamas of the class of 2006. And that just sounds…boring. I actually really enjoy children but not when they’re attending an event where adult conversations are being had and they are not the primary focus.
I know everyone’s financial situation is different. And I know some people loathe being away from their children, but I can’t understand why, with several years’ notice, people can’t seem to find a babysitter for one night.
Part of me feels like I shouldn’t go whether they allow children there or not. While some treasured relationships have gone by the wayside, Facebook allows me to keep in touch with virtually everyone I I care to keep in touch with… and secretly stalk. I’m sure there would be a surprise or two; but for the most part, I fear that I would merely run into the people I have no desire to see, people who will remind me why I was so anxious to leave my hometown in the first place.
But there’s that tiny, but loudly crying voice that wants to see how some people have turned out. That voice is very shallow and a bit mean. She wants to know who aged poorly. Who did and didn’t mature? Who’s in jail? Who’s a lesbian now? And who did something interesting with their life, something beyond the marriages and children Facebook seems to tell me about all the time. Not that that isn’t an accomplishment too… albeit a rather common one. I told you the voice was a tad mean.
The voice also wants people to know that I’ve done well too.
And I would love to have these conversations, just not with a toddler interrupting it or a 10-year-old sitting sulkingly in the corner wondering why his parents, brought him to this event with all these old people.
What do you think, am I tripping or should high school reunions be reserved for the people who have already graduated high school?
