The comedy-filled high school reunion-related storyline has run rampant since the latter part of the last century. Young adults looking to settle scores, reconnect with old crushes and reevaluate their lives at their coveted nostalgic event entice the average western viewer. I don’t know how many times I watched the movie, “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion,” with my best friend on VHS. We would talk about our own reunions with a tinge of sadness at the fact that we would never be at the same event since our parents had always planned for us to attend different high schools. However, a level of excitement would arise at the future opportunity to visit our pasts and reconnect with some of the people in our young lives that would help shape who we grew up to be.
I finally was able to attend my own high school reunion after visiting family for Thanksgiving in my old town. If sleeping in my old bedroom on a twin mattress didn’t take me back to a childlike-time, nervously walking into a venue unsure of what I would find had thrown me all the way back to the first day of high school right after I had moved to the new town. I had already received a text that told me to head toward the bar, but my eyes wandered around the room at the vaguely familiar faces from distant times.
Everyone looked the same, but you could tell that a few of my classmates had gotten older. Some were pregnant with wedding rings on their fingers while others had dad mustaches. It felt as though I was walking onto campus during homecoming spirit week and my classmates were attempting to dress like their parents. It was a surreal reminder that we were all grown up and had ventured off to mature and build new and exciting lives.
I spotted my group of my friends sipping cocktails and munching on nachos near the bar and was instantly taken back to the first time I met this amazing group of people who sat under a tree every day on campus at lunch. Ridiculous memories were passed around, questions about how life had treated us since graduating ten years ago were answered, and flashbacks from prom ensued as we danced for hours on the dance floor.
People say that high school is one of the greatest times of your life. You learn to drive, meet new people, and become an adult by the end of it all. However, this time is over in an instant. Your teenage years move along faster than they came on and you’re left with these memories that have helped carry you into adulthood. High school reunions offer people the chance to relive those days and rekindle those old friendships. You get to find out what happened to some of the people who have dropped off of the face of the earth and party as you travel down memory lane. For curious people-watching writers, like myself, you get to think about the past while writing stories in your head about everyone ten years into the future.
I had an amazing time going back in to the past and seeing into the future. I’m definitely glad that I attended my high school reunion despite having some reservations at first, and I am also looking forward to the future and to any possible high school reunions to come.
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