Reunion Season Has Come Again

Last week, I read this post by a fellow blogger and it made me think.

Not about nostalgia, though. 

My high school years were turbulent. We were in the midst of the Vietnam War protests.  People just a handful of years older than my graduating class were, to paraphrase the saying, "turning on, tuning in, and dropping out."     One demonstration from a nearby college spilled over onto my high school campus, as I recall.

I am thinking about the past more and more.  Perhaps that's a function of being in your 70's, although I'm not sure about that.

Last year, I wrote a couple of posts about high school reunions. Briefly, my 50th high school reunion was cancelled due to COVID.  My high school ended up holding an "all years" reunion last year.  I originally signed up for it, but there ended up being a conflict with a family event, and I cancelled out.

This year, the alumni association announced another all years reunion.  The date? Doesn't work.  But I wasn't sad at all about it.

Somehow, I have lost the urge to attend.

This is part of what I wrote in 2023:

"When I think of the possibility of reincarnation, one of the things I dread going through once again is my teen years.  Or, well, the teen years of the person I come back as.

Maybe "dread" is the wrong word, but if I come back again and have to go through the teen years, I hope they will be....different.  In a good way.  

Growing up is hard to do.  I think it's getting harder and harder.  It's harder now than when my son was growing up.

True, I grew up in the 50's and 60's, which we sometimes look back at with nostalgia, but the surface truths of those years held deep, dark, nasty secrets.  And the Vietnam War overshadowed the happiness of some of those years.

Then, there are high school reunions, where we are asked to relive some of those years.

After rereading my post on my spouse's 40th high school reunion (the only reunion either one of us has ever attended) I found I'm not the only one who has stayed away from them.  One might say I hit a nerve.

Why do we get so nostalgic about high school?  Is it because of friends we have lost touch with, friends we hope to reconnect with?  Or because we want to return to a time when things were simpler and we were younger?  Except, things were never simpler back when, whatever back when is for you.

It certainly isn't simple now, though, in 2023.

I had signed up for my 50th high school reunion only because one of the two gatherings was going to be held at the high school I went to.  It wasn't a dinner dance, but rather was a daytime event, which was going to feature speakers, demonstrations, and tours of the school (it is still in the same building but things have changed).

There was only one problem - the reunion was scheduled to be held in June of 2020.  You can all guess what happened.  Nothing happened. If it ever happened, I never heard of a rescheduling.  I had other things to think about.

So I am trying again, this year, with an "all years" alumni day, again in June, celebrating my high school's 85th anniversary.  Scheduled during the morning and early afternoon, it will feature speakers, demonstrations, and tours of the school.  It will also feature opportunities to meet current students."

And then, like I mentioned at the beginning of my post, I cancelled out.

Something I have realized with age is that our class of 1970 was not the only high school graduation classes affected by history.   What about the class of 1930, graduating into a major economic depression?  The class of 1942, graduating into World War II?  How about the class of 2002, fresh from 9/11?  And, of course, there was the class of 2020.

Quoting again from my 2023 post:

"I keep in mind that these [the class of 2020] are the students of the pandemic years, the years of active shooters drills, the years of social media bullying.  They are the students who were rudely yanked from their almost spring 2020 routines and dumped into a new nightmare of remote learning, illness, and fear.   Then, they returned to school in the fall of 2021, to masks, illness (when Omicron swept through the school, which I heard about through Reddit) and more fear.

I lost a high school reunion in June of 2020.  They lost so much more.  They were too young to have the resources to cope that someone my age has.  

They persevered.   But at what cost?"

And now many of them are in the college graduating class of 2024. graduating in turmoil and possibly, even, experiencing another cancelled commencement.

Reunion season has come again.

None of us can imagine what will happen in the next 50 years.

For the classes of 2020 and 2024, I can only wonder what their 50th class reunions will be like.  I won't be around to see, unless there are some incredible advances in medicine, but I helped shape (in a small way) the world they are graduating into.

May they have a chance to have a 50th reunion.

The High School Reunion Change of Plans

Back in January, I blogged that I have never attended one of my own high school reunions (I did go to one of my spouse's) but was going to try, finally, with an 85th anniversary all years reunion in June.

However, my record is going to remain intact.

I'm not going.

What ended up happening is a family event that conflicted and I made my decision - which was more important to me?  Turns out, the answer is "family".

 Back in January, I blogged the following, though, and it is still valid.

"Growing up is hard to do.  I think it's getting harder and harder.  It's harder now than when my son was growing up.

True, I grew up in the 50's and 60's, which we sometimes look back at with nostalgia, but the surface truths of those years held deep, dark, nasty secrets.  And the Vietnam War overshadowed the happiness of some of those years.

Then, there are high school reunions, where we are asked to relive some of those years.

After reading my recent post on my spouse's 40th high school reunion (the only reunion either one of us has ever attended) I found I'm not the only one who has stayed away from them.  One might say I hit a nerve.

Why do we get so nostalgic about high school?  Is it because of friends we have lost touch with, friends we hope to reconnect with?  Or because we want to return to a time when things were simpler and we were younger?  Except, things were never simpler back when, whatever back when is for you.

It certainly isn't simple now, though, in 2023.

I had signed up for my 50th high school reunion only because one of the two gatherings was going to be held at the high school I went to.  It wasn't a dinner dance, but rather was a daytime event, which was going to feature speakers, demonstrations, and tours of the school (it is still in the same building but things have changed).

There was only one problem - the reunion was scheduled to be held in June of 2020.  You can all guess what happened.  Nothing happened. If it ever happened, I never heard of a rescheduling.  I had other things to think about.

So I am trying again, this year, with an "all years" alumni day, again in June, celebrating my high school's 85th anniversary.  Scheduled during the morning and early afternoon, it will feature speakers, demonstrations, and tours of the school.  It will also feature opportunities to meet current students.

Meeting current students, I admit, was what interested me the most.  I keep in mind that these are the students of the pandemic years, the years of active shooters drills, the years of social media bullying.  They are the students who were rudely yanked from their almost spring 2020 routines and dumped into a new nightmare of remote learning, illness, and fear.   Then, they returned to school in the fall of 2021, to masks, illness (when Omicron swept through the school, which I heard about through Reddit) and more fear.

I lost a high school reunion in June of 2020.  They lost so much more.  They were too young to have the resources to cope that someone my age has.  

They persevered.   But at what cost?"

I still wonder about the students of the classes of The Pandemic Disruption.

It's interesting, the nerves that are hit when I blog about high school reunions.  I am far from the only person whose high school years weren't the happiest.  I'm sure I'm far from the only person who has skipped reunions, too.

Time passes.  I may or may not get another opportunity.  Turns out, this celebration is going to be huge for my high school, which is actually holding events in several cities (including a couple overseas!) where alumni have settled.

I wish them well.

I don't regret my decision to go to my family event instead.

The Teen Years and More Thoughts on an Alumni Day

When I think of the possibility of reincarnation, one of the things I dread going through once again is my teen years.  Or, well, the teen years of the person I come back as.

Maybe "dread" is the wrong word, but if I come back again and have to go through the teen years, I hope they will be....different.  In a good way.  

Growing up is hard to do.  I think it's getting harder and harder.  It's harder now than when my son was growing up.

True, I grew up in the 50's and 60's, which we sometimes look back at with nostalgia, but the surface truths of those years held deep, dark, nasty secrets.  And the Vietnam War overshadowed the happiness of some of those years.

Then, there are high school reunions, where we are asked to relive some of those years.

After reading my recent post on my spouse's 40th high school reunion (the only reunion either one of us has ever attended) I found I'm not the only one who has stayed away from them.  One might say I hit a nerve.

Why do we get so nostalgic about high school?  Is it because of friends we have lost touch with, friends we hope to reconnect with?  Or because we want to return to a time when things were simpler and we were younger?  Except, things were never simpler back when, whatever back when is for you.

It certainly isn't simple now, though, in 2023.

I had signed up for my 50th high school reunion only because one of the two gatherings was going to be held at the high school I went to.  It wasn't a dinner dance, but rather was a daytime event, which was going to feature speakers, demonstrations, and tours of the school (it is still in the same building but things have changed).

There was only one problem - the reunion was scheduled to be held in June of 2020.  You can all guess what happened.  Nothing happened. If it ever happened, I never heard of a rescheduling.  I had other things to think about.

So I am trying again, this year, with an "all years" alumni day, again in June, celebrating my high school's 85th anniversary.  Scheduled during the morning and early afternoon, it will feature speakers, demonstrations, and tours of the school.  It will also feature opportunities to meet current students.

Meeting current students, I admit, was what interested me the most.  I keep in mind that these are the students of the pandemic years, the years of active shooters drills, the years of social media bullying.  They are the students who were rudely yanked from their almost spring 2020 routines and dumped into a new nightmare of remote learning, illness, and fear.   Then, they returned to school in the fall of 2021, to masks, illness (when Omicron swept through the school, which I heard about through Reddit) and more fear.

I lost a high school reunion in June of 2020.  They lost so much more.  They were too young to have the resources to cope that someone my age has.  

They persevered.   But at what cost?

We'll see the outside of those students, their public faces, the faces of high academic achievement (something my high school specializes in).  What we won't see is the inside.

Nor will I see how they see us - the young adults, the middle aged, the elderly.  An all years reunion.  I may be happy I can't read their minds, but a part of me will want to know how they will perceive the alumni like me.

Who will come to the alumni day?  Will I know anyone? (Being a New York City school, my graduating class had hundreds of students.  I knew a fraction of them.)  Will I even be able to make my way through the school floor plan?

(I'll be happy to have a friend, and perhaps a couple of guests, just in case....)

The event is free, and I could change my mind and decide not to come after all.  It will cost me some, for two nights worth of motels, just for a four hour event.  Fortunately, I have other things I can do just a few miles away from the school

If I do go, it sure will be interesting.  And different.  

Am I ready?

Stay tuned.

Forever Young 2010-2023

High School Reunions.  Have you ever gone to any of yours?

High school was not the highlight of my life.  For a long time, I didn't.

After never going to one of my other reunions, I signed up for my 50th high school reunion.  It was supposed to be held in June of 2020.  Guess what didn't happen and why.  I'm not even sure it was ever held when the pandemic moderated.

Last week, I was invited to an "all years" alumni day this June to celebrate the 85th anniversary of my high school in New York City.  I've decided to go, especially as I can bring a couple of guests besides my spouse.   It will be held at my high school in the daytime, which is what interests me. No dressing up.  No dancing. 

The invite brought back memories of the one reunion I ever went to - my husband's 40th (more on that in a few sentences).  Now, we are in our 70s.

His 50th reunion never happened, either, due to COVID.  So here we are.

I originally wrote this post on October 16, 2010.  Today, I rerun it, including some editing I did when I reran it in October of 2019.  I called it "Forever Young 2020". I wonder, what if I had known what the future would bring when I wrote this in 2010 and republished it in 2019?

From October 2010 with edits

The Dancing Queen.  No longer 17.

The administrator for a children's hospital on the West Coast.  The merger and acquisitions lawyer up from Washington DC.  The school psychologist practicing in Virginia.  The financial consultant.  The grandmother of three fresh from a trip to Hawaii.  The produce clerk.  The man taking constant phone calls because his father was in the hospital, a thousand miles away.

What did we all have in common?   Six hours of dancing, talking, sharing email addresses, and looking at old photos.

A 40th high school reunion.

Not mine, but my husband's.  One of his friends organized it.  Before last night I had only met one of these people, and to my amazement, I recognized him the minute I saw him.  My husband was already in college when I met him so this was a part of his life that I was never able to share.

Until now.

There was the woman who, surveying the room, said to me "This is surreal".  Yes it was and I bet everyone who goes to a reunion (especially the 30th, the 40th, and beyond) thinks the same thing.  When you age, the people you knew in your childhood (if you don't see them as adults) are frozen in time.  The people you went to high school with are, in your mind, forever 17 and 18.  Even if they are really 58 or 60.

Until you go to the reunion, that is, and this is the surreal part.  You walk into the room and see a bunch of middle aged people just like you.  Some look like their yearbook photos.  Many do not. Many of us grey, all of us wrinkled, some of us in shape, others not so much.  Some of us have achieved great things.  Some have lived the lives they had planned to live but for many of us our lives have taken many unexpected directions.  Some good, some not.

We are older, wiser.  We accept the class clown, we reminisce about old antics,  we laugh with and hug the classmate who had too much to drink and is now trying to cry on everyone's shoulder.  We know this moment isn't going to be forever.  We know when we have the next reunion we will be near 70.  Maybe we should have these more often.

Will we do that?

Or will we be reabsorbed into our daily lives?  Only time will tell (I said back then) - and time did tell, didn't it.

But for that one night we were....forever young.

The Missing Hearts

This past week, I finished a book called "Our Missing Hearts" by Celeste Ng.

This is the first novel by Ms. Ng I've read.  Unlike her other two novels, this is a dystopian novel.  Or perhaps not quite dystopian, because almost everything in this book has happened before, in one form or another.  This happens to be a genre I enjoy but this book hit a little bit too close to home.  It was chilling - a near future United States that is totally believable.

Briefly, this is the plot: Bird (a nickname; his given name is Noah) is a 12 year old boy with an Asian mother and a white father.  He lives with his father in a future United States which was transformed by a terrible economic crisis fifteen years before, called simply The Crisis.  China and South Korea are blamed (correctly or not) for The Crisis and eventually, anyone who is, or looks like, they are of Asian origin bore the brunt of this popular belief. 

PACT (the Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act) is passed by Congress in a bipartisan vote and signed into law 10 years before the events in this novel begins.  Among other things, PACT gives the government the right to remove children from any household not deemed patriotic enough.  Books are censored, eventually removed from libraries, and pulped.  The pulp is then used to manufacture toilet paper.  One such book is a book of poetry called "Our Missing Hearts" written by Bird's mother, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, which inspires those who engage in small acts of rebellion against PACT.

To prevent Bird from being taken, Bird's mother left the family and went into hiding three years before the novel begins.  Bird's father, protectively, denounces his wife and tells his son to forget his mother.  But then a communication comes in the mail....

A memory came back to me.

In 2020, my spouse and I were supposed to go to my 50th high school reunion. Well, not all of it.  Not the expensive dinner dance that would have taken place in Manhattan (also necessitating a hotel stay). But rather, I looked forward to an Alumni Day at our school.   I ha not set foot in my high school since my graduation, nor had I gone to previous reunions.  No matter.  Thanks to COVID, the 2020 reunion was cancelled.  

There were a handful of people I wanted to see again.  One of them was a woman I shared a locker with for part of my high school years.  We remained in touch during college and for a couple of years after we graduated.  Gradually, we lost touch.

I can't remember what initially attracted us to start a friendship.  We came from totally different backgrounds.  Me - Jewish, with grandparents from Belarus and from Austria-Hungary.  My locker mate was the daughter of Chinese immigrants.  My high school, back then, had a lot of Asian students.  It has many more now.

Today (based on statistics I found online) my high school is about 23% white and 79% "minority".  What would the framers of PACT had felt about that?

I must confess to this: When I started hearing about the large uptick in hate crimes against Asians in 2021, it was just part of the flood of news all of us are subject to.  It's overwhelming, the news, if you pay attention to each and every thing. But then, something caught in my mind.  It was wrong for me to ignore what was happening.

My thoughts turned to my former high school locker mate and college pen pal more than once, as I saw videos of elderly Asians attacked on the street, some fatally.  If she is alive today, my friend has closed in on 70, like me.  If her parents are still alive, they are probably in their 90's.  All of them are vulnerable in a way that I can not fully understand because my experience is not their experience. 

Did my lockermate have children?  Grandchildren?  What has been their experience?

I walk down the street and my face does not provoke hate.  Others walk down the street and face daily harassment or worse.  

Under PACT, all of that would have happening openly, with no recourse.

(I highly recommend Ng's novel, incidentally, although it was hard for me to get through some parts of it, and I had to put the book aside for several days more than once.)

Are we on our way to a similar future United States?  It's up to us.

Forever Young 2021 edition

This, with some edits, is a rerun of a post from 10 years ago.  It's about my spouse's 40th high school reunion.

The Dancing Queen.  No longer 17.

The administrator for a children's hospital on the West Coast.  The merger and acquisitions lawyer up from Washington DC.  The school psychologist practicing in Virginia.  The financial consultant.  The grandmother of three fresh from a trip to Hawaii.  The produce clerk.  The man taking constant phone calls because his father was in the hospital, a thousand miles away.

What did we all have in common?   Six hours of dancing, talking, sharing email addresses, and looking at old photos.

A 40th high school reunion.

Not mine, but my husband's.  One of his friends organized it.  Before last night I had only met one of these people, and to my amazement, I recognized him the minute I saw him.  

My husband was already in college when I met him so his high school years was a part of his life that I was never able to share.

Until now.

There was the woman who, surveying the room, said to me "This is surreal".  Yes it was and I bet everyone who goes to a reunion (especially the 30th, the 40th, and beyond) thinks the same thing.  When you age, the people you knew in your childhood (if you don't see them as adults) are frozen in time.  The people you went to high school with are, in your mind, forever 17 and 18.  Even if they are really 58 or 60.  (Or, 65 or 66).

Until you go to the reunion, that is, and this is the surreal part.  You walk into the room and see a bunch of middle aged people just like you.  Some look like their yearbook photos.  Many do not. Many of us grey, all of us wrinkled, some of us in shape, others not so much.  Some of us have achieved great things.  Some have lived the lives they had planned to live but for many of us our lives have taken many unexpected directions.  Some good, some not.

We are older, wiser.  We accept the class clown, we reminisce about old antics,  we laugh with and hug the classmate who had too much to drink and is now trying to cry on everyone's shoulder.  We know this moment isn't going to be forever.  We know when we have the next reunion we will be near 70.  Maybe we should have these more often.

Will we do that?

Or will we be reabsorbed into our daily lives?  Only time will tell.

 

But for that one night we were....forever young. 

Forever Young 2020 #RMF2019 #blogtboost

High School Reunions.  Have you ever gone to any of yours?

I blogged, a couple of days ago, about being invited to my 50th high school reunion, which will take place in June of 2020.

It brought back memories of the one reunion I ever went to - my husband's 40th.

I originally wrote this post on October 16, 2010 - nine years and a few days ago.  Today, I rerun it, with some music and  editing.

I called it "Forever Young".

The Dancing Queen.  No longer 17.

The administrator for a children's hospital on the West Coast.  The merger and acquisitions lawyer up from Washington DC.  The school psychologist practicing in Virginia.  The financial consultant.  The grandmother of three fresh from a trip to Hawaii.  The produce clerk.  The man taking constant phone calls because his father was in the hospital, a thousand miles away.

What did we all have in common?   Six hours of dancing, talking, sharing email addresses, and looking at old photos.

A 40th high school reunion.

Not mine, but my husband's.  One of his friends organized it.  Before last night I had only met one of these people, and to my amazement, I recognized him the minute I saw him.  My husband was already in college when I met him so this was a part of his life that I was never able to share.

Until now.

There was the woman who, surveying the room, said to me "This is surreal".  Yes it was and I bet everyone who goes to a reunion (especially the 30th, the 40th, and beyond) thinks the same thing.  When you age, the people you knew in your childhood (if you don't see them as adults) are frozen in time.  The people you went to high school with are, in your mind, forever 17 and 18.  Even if they are really 58 or 60.

Until you go to the reunion, that is, and this is the surreal part.  You walk into the room and see a bunch of middle aged people just like you.  Some look like their yearbook photos.  Many do not. Many of us grey, all of us wrinkled, some of us in shape, others not so much.  Some of us have achieved great things.  Some have lived the lives they had planned to live but for many of us our lives have taken many unexpected directions.  Some good, some not.

We are older, wiser.  We accept the class clown, we reminise about old antics,  we laugh with and hug the classmate who had too much to drink and is now trying to cry on everyone's shoulder.  We know this moment isn't going to be forever.  We know when we have the next reunion we will be near 70.  Maybe we should have these more often.

Will we do that?

Or will we be reabsorbed into our daily lives?  Only time will tell.

But for that one night we were....forever young.

Joining Mary at Jingle Jangle Jungle and her Rocktober Music Festival.

Day 22 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

50th High School Reunion #blogboost

Yesterday, I received a "save the date" postcard for June of 2020.  This will be the weekend of my 50th high school reunion.

I've only been to one class reunion and it wasn't mine.  It was my husband's, and I'll blog about it later this week.

Strangely, for someone who graduated from a high school class that had more people than many peoples' high schools in total (or the town they grew up in!)  I am, as of right now, only in touch with three people I went to high school with. 

Will I go?  I don't plan to go to the dinner (which is in New York City, and with a dress, a hotel and the cost of the dinner, I've decided to pass on) but there is a Alumni Day at the high school the next day, and I may well go to that.  I have not been in the building since the day I graduated.


The high school I went to was the Bronx High School of Science, currently considered one of the 50 best in the United States. In a way, Bronx Science saved my life - if I hadn't passed the entrance exam, I would have gone to my local high school, which definitely was not one of the 50 best.  Or one of the safest.  In fact, it was closed down in 2008 (although, carved up into several small schools, high school students are still educated there.)

But enough times, I wondered how I ended up there. I'm not a "geek".  I'm not an intellectual heavyweight.  I'm just grateful that they admitted me.  Isn't it sad, to be afraid of going to your local high school due to crime and violence, even back then in the late 1960's?

No matter where you go to high school, one thing is for certain.  You remember yourself and your classmates as young people.   And then you go to a reunion.

To your shock, you realize you went to school with a roomful of senior citizens.

Where did the time go?

Day 20 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost

Frozen in Time

Have you ever been frozen in time?

You may have been.  Have you ever gone to a high school reunion, expecting to find a room full of 17 and 18 year olds, and shocked, instead, to discover that everyone had aged - just like you? Or, visited a place you haven't been to in many years, to find how much it's changed?

I sometimes ride the subway in my native New York City, where I spent the first 21 years of my life.  Before I left, I used mass transit all the time - my family never owned a car. (Back in the 50's and 60's, non car owing families were common in the City.) I've visited New York City a number of times since I left, and sometimes I use mass transit. When I ride the subway, a art of me knows how the subways look, sound, smell nowadays - but a part of me expects to see token booths and does not expect Metro Cards and people listening to music on their phones. 

Another example:  I lived in Tampa, Florida for a couple of years back in the 1970's, and visited the Orlando area several times during that time.  I've been back to Tampa twice since then, the most recent visit being in March, and have been in the Orlando area three times.  A part of me knows that Orlando is a city of skyscrapers and theme park sprawl but I'm amazed when I'm there, because Orlando wasn't like that at all in the 1970's.  I-4 was not a superhighway, and Tampa's downtown was several sort of tallish buildings.  Today I would, and did, get so lost in downtown Tampa that it's amazing I'm still not wandering around looking for the exit.

Yes, at times I am frozen.  Frozen in time, suspended in a time that no longer exists, and not knowing what to make of it.

Has this happened to you?

Not Going to My High School Reunion

I am missing my high school reunion this weekend.

I won't mention which one, but there is a "4" and a "0" somewhere in the number.  But least you think you have just guessed my age, you haven't. (not exactly, anyway)  It's a long story.

Anyway, I am not going, and I have never gone to any of my reunions.  Not one.

Why?  "It's complicated".  Even after having gone to my spouse's reunion (there's a blog post about that somewhere) I am still not going.

First, high school was not exactly the high point of my life.  Second, in all honesty, there are very few people I went to high school with that I care to 'reunite" with.  Lest I sound too anti social, I can point out that my high school graduating class (we are talking New York City here) had more people in it than many high schools around here have total students.  Shy and not a beauty, I wasn't exactly Miss Popularity. 

Most of the people I've wanted to keep in touch with, I've kept in touch with.  I suspect the few who have disappeared aren't going to the reunions, either.

For whatever reason, this reunion is being held in Florida.  I guess they figure enough of us have ended up there. It may have been a nice escape from winter (such as winter has been this year), but even that couldn't get me to attend.

I will be visiting one of my classmates  tomorrow. The fact that I can make this visit has made me very happy that I decided not to sign up.  This is a special visit, and I'll blog more about it tomorrow.

Have you gone to your high school reunions?  Or have you passed?  If you went, were you happy you went?  If you didn't, were you happy that you didn't?

Forever Young

The Dancing Queen.  No longer 17.

The administrator for a children's hospital on the West Coast.  The merger and acquisitions lawyer up from Washington DC.  The school psychologist practicing in Virginia.  The financial consultant.  The grandmother of three fresh from a trip to Hawaii.  The produce clerk.  The man taking constant phone calls because his father was in the hospital, a thousand miles away.

What did we all have in common?   6 hours of dancing, talking, sharing email addresses, and looking at old photos.

A 40th high school reunion.

Not mine, but my husband's.  One of his friends organized it.  Before last night I had only met one of these people, and to my amazement, I recognized him the minute I saw him.  My husband was already in college when I met him so this was a part of his life that I was never able to share.

Until now.

There was the woman who, surveying the room, said to me "This is surreal".  Yes it was and I bet everyone who goes to a reunion (especially the 30th, the 40th, and beyond) thinks the same thing.  When you age, the people you knew in your childhood (if you don't see them as adults) are frozen in time.  The people you went to high school with are, in your mind, forever 17 and 18.  Even if they are really 58 or 60.

Until you go to the reunion, that is, and this is the surreal part.  You walk into the room and see a bunch of middle aged people just like you.  Some look like their yearbook photos.  Many do not. Many of us grey, all of us wrinkled, some of us in shape, others not so much.  Some of us have achieved great things.  Some have lived the lives they had planned to live but for many of us our lives have taken many unexpected directions.  Some good, some not.

We are older, wiser.  We accept the class clown, we reminise about old antics,  we laugh with and hug the classmate who had too much to drink and is now trying to cry on everyone's shoulder.  We know this moment isn't going to be forever.  We know when we have the next reunion we will be near 70.  Maybe we should have these more often.

Will we do that?

Or will we be reabsorbed into our daily lives?  Only time will tell.

But for that one night we were....forever young.