In a few weeks it's my 10 year high school reunion. 10 years!
From the outside, the only way I look the same as I did then, is the length and color of my hair. Otherwise I look completely different. I feel like it goes the same for the person I am on the inside. As it should! I would hope that in 10 years the person I was has evolved and grown into the person I am now. Which begs the question... if I have changed so much, then perhaps everyone else has changed so much, what is the merit in attending our high school reunion?
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Oh you young naaive thing! With hair you still can't control!
Thanks to Facebook I know what everyone's been up to. Or at least what they want us to know they've been up to. And isn't that really what a reunion is all about? I feel like there are two types of conversations that go on at these things; the look-at-how-amazing-my-life-is (or how amazing I want you to think it is), and the remember-when-we-did-that-thing-that-one-time.
It is thought in some psychological circles that a teenager's developmental stage in high school is largely focused on developing their self identity through their social circles. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I have definitely moved on from that stage. I don't feel defined by my friends. So perhaps this is where my not wanting to attend my reunion stems from. I feel like it's almost a step back in the adult developmental game. I don't feel I need their approval or attention. To put it bluntly, I don't really care if they know how I turned out. As well as, I don't really care how they turned out. And the people I do care about, I've kept in contact with and know how they're doing!
But maybe all that is only part of it. One of my biggest goals in life is to live with no regrets. To own each decision and embrace that they're a part of who I am today. Part of living without regrets is to let go of things in the past. To leave them there and not relive them every day. I'm really happy with my life right now. I like living at exactly this point in my life right now. I don't feel a need to relive the past; even if it's just for one week-end.
All this time I've been thinking it's my classmates I don't care to connect with but maybe that's not the whole story. Maybe the person I feel little desire to connect with is high school me. She has a huge part in who I am today and I never forget that. So for me, I think that's enough of a high school reunion.
I agree! Social media covers most of the catching up I'd do. I'm thinking I'll skip the 10 year.
ReplyDeleteI'll be interested to see where things are at in social media at like my 20 year reunion. By then I might be wanting to attend in person or at least in hologram ;)
DeleteTime seems to fly so much faster when we're older. It's been 20 years for me and still feels like yesterday. Yes FB and the like helps to keep in touch or just to be nosey. My honey and I went be to the high school a few years back, yes we went to same school. A grade apart. They wanted to charge 20 just to walk around the place with a name tag. Um no, being the unemployed capital of canada, we didn't pay and proceeded to walk around anyway.
ReplyDeleteYikes! that's expensive to just walk around. mine was $25/person for a dance and bbq. felt a little too like highschool for me. Plus my husband is from ontario so he would know no one at it. so it was definitely not worth the fifty bucks!
DeleteYou bring up some interesting points that I'm sure are true for many people. Still, I think I might like to go to mine. I was so ready to get out of high school and distance myself from most of my classmates that I failed to value those last few moments when I could relish in the awesomeness of true, genuine people and conversation. My last year of HS was spent taking college classes and working and only actually going to HS for a few hours a day. I think it might be nice to catch up with people, hug them, and tell them I missed seeing them the past few years. As I get older, I've begun to realize that I truly enjoyed my tiny little town and many of the people in it. When I was younger, I just couldn't wait to get away. Of course, I say this as I'm typing a good 12 hours away from most of them! haha But one day out of 10 years might be nice.
ReplyDelete