So the dreaded school reunion invite has shown up on Facebook.
Go or no go?
I didn't enjoy high school much; I remember it as five years of bullying, oneupmanship and all round nastiness
Most of us grow up some day.
I made a half century reunion and found out my worst bully was so ashamed of himself that he asked for forgiveness over and over in order to get on with his life. He had trouble sleeping nights and raising his own family with good intentions knowing what he had done in school.
You will be surprised with how some of the worst offenders turned out and then to hear about the class favorites that were incarcerated for paedophilia etc.
Difficult one. You often work on the principle that you keep in touch with those whom you like anyway so why bother.
For one night, I think it's worth it as its often good to see people you wouldn't normally and you're a long time dead! If its dire, just leave early or vow to never go back.
Missed the first one due to being in the Antarctic. Got to the second one and was gobsmacked at the rumours flying around as to why I'd missed the first one. Didn't bother with any more.
yep, Loma, but it still includes being there and listening to people. And I'm not against listening to quite boring stories sometimes, but usually it means you have to repeat your own one for several times, too, (and it wouldn't be nice to vary it either) and even that could be fun sometimes - when you feel like it. If you don't, don't go.
Having had zero contact with my high school after leaving, I went to my 50th reunion a few months ago. It was a real hoot. Having been a classic nerd at the time, it was interesting to see that many of the movers and shakers from years ago had not progressed much beyond that, and many were still dealing with issues from high school days. Many others, however, had moved on into successful and interesting lives.
By this time, old and decrepit as we are getting, most of the interest in one-upmanship had disappeared. For that evening we all got along quite well, despite what might have gone on so long ago.
When that 'Friends Reunited' website was all the rage about 10 years ago i posted a message on there and 3 of my old school compatriates got in contact. We exchanged a few emails detailing what we had been up to etc etc, and that was that. Nothing in common anymore apart from being at school together 25 years ago now, thats all. I suspect school reunions become pseudo competitions about bragging rights. If my school year had one i doubt i would attend.
I go to my Old Boy's Reunion dinner every year, first Friday of the new year. Thoroughly enjoy it. Mind you it was a good school and most of the guys who went there have done something with their lives. Every year the chairman raises his glass to the different decades starting with the 1920's, and there are still guys going to the OBR who went to my school in the 20's incredibly enough.
Going to that school had a massive influence on who I became, due to the very high standard of teaching and mentoring there, I'm very thankful to have been a pupil.
you're just lucky to have met the right people there. My spouse's former class meets each year even though it's 40+ from their graduation (and seems they've forgotten I'm from a different year) and my Father has their regular get-togethers with the guys they were in the first (!) class (6-7 yrs then, 80 now - the ones this side of the rainbow). We have met twice a year (for about a decade now) with the gang I went to the university with for the second time, and not once with the first one. Even though we like eachother when we meet. Just depends.
It does bring forth some extreme reactions doesn't it! Some people would probably have a leg explode before go to a school reunion and others love 'em.
Some people hate flying in light aircraft as well. Each to their own.
In one of his spine-chilling books, Stephen King has a character say that "when a train goes past, all you notice is the locomotive and the guards-van. Nothing in between !"
Therefore if you decide to go, make your choice: buy or borrow the finest clothes, shoes, watch and etc., and go to bedazzle everyone with your wealth and power.
Or go in the most ghastly old stained rags, holes in socks, shoes falling apart, no timepiece on your wrist, and a loathsome reek of sweat and disease about your armpits, feet and groin.
In both cases you will be noticed and talked about, although in the second case you are unlikely to go home with a companion on your arm, unless some of your former classmates are gutter-trolling perverts
My wife goes to all of her school reunions, except one when we were in London and the boss decided to stay an extra week.
Me, one. I had never gone to any of my High School reunions, for good reasons. However, my wife kept insisting that we go. Finally for the 25th reunion, she talked me into it, so we went. Now bear in mind that I never hung around anyone I went to school with, nor dated any of the girls from my high school. I just attended the school to fill in the boxes for attending university.
All my friends were Air Force brats such as myself and the girls I dated were from the other side of the city.
So we go. After we leave I asked her if she thought she would force me to attend another one, she replied, "Oh my God, no, never."
And I've not attended any more of them. Hell, I have more and better friends with the people that attended her high school than mine.
Oh, all my friends that were Air Force brats are scattered to the four winds, so to speak.
The 50th anniversary of the school where I was incarcerated for 5 years is up next year, but I shan't be going to any celebration, even if invited. Of the two good teachers, one is dead and the other has long moved on from teaching and now works as a sports commentator. The kiddy-diddler died a few years ago, and I don't care if the sadist is miserably alive or not. I've only come across two fellow inmates since leaving school. One looked me up when he was searching for a replacement kidney, and the other one and I met as opposing expert witnesses, and later worked for the same employer.
The school was a haven for incompetent teachers (with a couple of exceptions), criminals (staff & students) and bullies then, and has gone downhill since. If the half-ton is celebrated by a bonfire, I shall be be there with petrol, but otherwise it will have to enjoy my absence.
My High School class has run four of them at five year intervals, so they were popular and well supported.
They are possibly better value if you can attend them without the 'significant other' in your present life who is likely to get extremely bored at meeting a whole lot of strangers, and possibly even embarrassed /stroppy / homicidal at some of the memories being exchanged.
I'm glad I went (I had no choice - I was on the organising committee) and each time we subsequently received many letters of gratitude from those who attended, surprisingly from some of the teachers whose patience we had sorely tried all those years ago.
It was interesting that some of the boys /blokes went to great pains to tell everyone how successful they had been. The girls seemed less compelled to do so. The prettiest girl in school had lost that certain allure, and some of those who were easily overlooked all those years earlier had really 'turned out rather well'.
One interesting observation from one of the locals on the committee: those of us who continued to live in the local area of the school hadn't changed at all over the years, but those who went away to live in far flung places returning only for the reunion really had grown old with the passage of time
Good value, but your mileage may vary .....
Last edited by FullOppositeRudder; 30th Dec 2012 at 10:41.
A good mate of mine with a wicked sense of humour...
He hired a stunning Russian hooker for his arm, and hired a yellow ferrari... Lots of catty and jealous comments all night, he went back to his sales job after the reunion a very satisfied man after having had a terrible few years at his school.
