Observations From My High School Reunion

I attended my 20-year high school reunion last weekend, and you may be expecting me to go on a negative rant about the experience right about now. If so, stop reading now, because I'm not going to do that.  It was a great weekend. I skipped the school tour and family picnic--which I regret--as I was here at work at the station, but the main event was a fun Saturday night dinner party at Elmcrest Country Club in Cedar Rapids. We enjoyed great food (and drinks--I certainly had my share of drinks) while a pretty large number of our classmates (although I missed many who couldn't make it) from the Kennedy High School Class of 1996, along with many of their spouses and guests, got together to reconnect and reminisce. Unfortunately, I was not asked to give a Macarena tutorial as part of the festivities, but it was still a wildly successful event.

Some say Facebook is making these events obsolete because you can keep track of everyone through their timeline. But nothing beats the human connection. I say next time you have a high school reunion coming up,  if travel and scheduling conflicts are not an issue, you should go. Although if you had a horrible experience in high school and just can't stand to relive it, I understand.  I was nervous for weeks about going, but class reunions, like life itself, are what you make of them. I surprised myself in a few instances with how un-intimidated I was, and saw friends and people I hadn't seen since the 10-year reunion, if not since high school. Everyone looked fantastic and seemed really happy. It was so worth it.

If nothing else, just be yourself, put your best foot forward and remind yourself it's only for a few hours anyway. You won't have to see them again for another 5, 10, 20 years, or ever. Then again, you might just discover you'll want to.

Have you been to a class reunion or do you have one coming up that you're wondering about attending? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.