Well, I survived my 35th high school reunion...

[WCGreen]

A lot of people were following my blog and were surprised to see that I am still relatively healthy. Well except for the hose in the nose.

Everyone look good, as good that can be expected as we all glide into our fifties.

Some of the girls I loved from afar were there and told me that if they knew I was so enamored they would have been glad to go out with me...

But I lacked the personal skills that are needed and ended up making people laugh with my wise cracking or think with my argumentative side that fit nicely with the part of me that always questions authority.

We had a class of about 260 and only 15 or so have passed on.

Everyone who came seemed to be in good health and the memories flowed like cheap liquor at a shotgun wedding.

I enjoyed myself but am glad these events happen only every five years.

Our class, the class of 75, was perched between the optimism of the sixties and the angst ridden rage of the punks.

We were still optimistic about the future yet were leery of the embrace of materialism that was to follow.

I think that is why we still gather every five years, petty boundaries fall by the way side each and every get together.

Back in 1975, we all came together for a few months and produced a class that was able to hold together pretty well through all the years.

We were all Ferris Bueller in that no one was really excluded and everyone was welcomed who wanted to be a part of the celebration.

[old mark]

1. Happy you enjoyed it. I know there are many people to whom high school was a valuable

experience, I just can't relate to that.

But I'm glad someone had a good time...

mark

[abq e streeter]

3. My HS years were a horrid experience; it was incredibly healing to see those people

as nice intelligent adults ( 35 th is the only one I ever went to and only because it was happening while I was there visiting family). But it really did help heal a lot of decades-long festering wounds. Glad WC had a positive experience too. Certainly wouldn't recommend it for everyone (and you know better than anyone whether or not you would want to attend one) but mine was far better than I would have imagined, and with everything WC has been through ,I'm happy for him that it turned out well.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Glad to hear it!

You must still be decompressing...

It takes a lot of energy to be on your feet, talking, maybe dancing, and so on for a lot of hours...

It's great to hear that your evening went so well!


On edit: maybe there might be pictures?

[bluesbassman]

4. Congratulations!

Sounds like you enjoyed yourself. My 35th is next year (Class of '76). I have only gone to the 10 year interval reunions, but I think I'll go to this one.

[LibDemAlways]

5. I'm glad you had a good time. My 40th is coming up. We were

a class of several hundred. Quite a few deaths already - suicide, AIDS, accidents, cancer. We include a disgraced former US Senator, George "macaca" Allen, who sported a Confederate flag lapel pin in his grad. photo (this in Southern California) and was once suspended for spraying racist graffiti on the walls of the school. The class also includes a convicted spy (now a free man), Daulton Lee, the "snowman" of "The Falcon and the Snowman" fame. Neither has ever attended a reunion.

I was a total "ghost" in high school, so I am generally a spectator at these events, an observer of how kind or unkind time has been to those I remember as cheerleaders, jocks, nerds, and all the other categories by which kids define other kids. The 20 year was the best because in their late 30's everyone still looks pretty good. By the 30 year....not so much. The 40....I'm bracing myself.

It's great that your class provides a welcoming atmosphere for everyone. Not so with mine. Old cliques die hard. Nevertheless, it's always interesting to enter the time warp - if only for a couple of hours.

[WCGreen]

6. I still live n my home town and was dragged to the first few b friends..

After that, the cliches just seem to melt away.

There were a few who did not go because of the pain of being invisible or feelings of ostracization, but I am meeting with a few folks next week who didn't go.