This year (2008) represents our 50th anniversary since graduating from High Schoool. Both your Mom and I graduated in the same year. Scholastically she was ranked much higher than I was.
Well we have been contacted by classmates from '58 informing us of the upcoming reunion. We need to "mail-in" personal information along with pictures. Later we will need to send in money to pay for the festivities.
Talk about a dilemma. All the memories are of skinny people along with shared experiences from 50 years ago. Expectation is you return to this era of hard bodies and good looks and everybody will be happy, happy, happy.
The reality is that everybody has changed a lot. "Frompy" physiques, balding heads and a sea of eye-glasses. Maybe even a few canes and wheelchairs.
So you really don't know what you are going to find. Some classmembers are deceased. Some have been married multiple times. They are spread all over the country.
And then the enevitable comparisons of success. Doctors! Lawyers! Professors! World travelers! Admit it! This is the most intimidating part of the reunion. It is a judgement on what you did with your life. Maybe you were the best Mom in the world and raised 5 great kids but that gets little acclaim. So you have to develop the mindset that if you go to the reunion, you'll just look past all the petty career comparisons and enjoy the old friends for what they meant to you in 1958.
Part of me says it would interesting to go back and re-visit 1958 provided the right people show up and part of me says that 50 years have passed and you can't go back.
Going back in time is not always pleasant. The teen years are awkward. There were select cliques of people that could do hurtful things and there were many negative experiences that are best forgotten.
I know what we will do. We will send in our personal information sheets (along with pictures) to get them included in a class booklet. We will send in our money as if we are going to attend. Then sometime in June as we get near the date of the reunion, we will make the decision on whether to go. That is called keeping your options open (of maybe lack of commitment).
I really believe you can't go back. My memories have drifted to being mostly positive. Why not leave my memories alone.
And yet, I have to admit just a little curiosity.
Stay tuned!
Love,
Dad