My high school reunion was last weekend. Oh, don't expect to hear any tales of who danced on a table with a lampshade on her head. And stop thinking it was probably me. I didn't attend the reunion. I haven't been to one yet. Hick goes to his every time. But not me.
There's no particular reason I don't attend. No grudges. No embarrassing secrets. I'm successful by local standards. Which is kind of like that bookkeeper at the junk store telling me two weeks after hiring me that she did so because I "looked clean". I mean, I have a job. I have a husband and kids. I'm no Quasimodo or serial killer or meth manufacturer. I get by. Nobody is going to think I wasted my valedictorian life by becoming a teacher. It's a noble profession, right?
No, I simply don't enjoy festivities involving many people. The day before the reunion, I ran into a former classmate in The Dollar Tree. Funny. Because I usually run into him in Walmart. He said he was going to the reunion for the first time ever. I wished him well. Today in Walmart, another classmate jumped across the checkouts to declare that I had too many items for the 20 Items or Less counter. Mayhap I did, and mayhap I didn't, as my son Genius likes to say, after reading The Stand. But the checker personally invited me over there. So I told him off, and asked if he went to the reunion. Nope. He was out of town, he said. And added furthermore that he sees everybody he needs to see in Walmart. Ain't that the truth? As I exited the store, there he was chatting up another classmate at the greeting door, although she is usually a checker. He pointed to me. "She didn't go to the reunion, either. Why should we? We have our own right here."
I think a reunion would depress me. I would wonder why all my former classmates looked so old. Because I still feel like I'm eighteen.
6 comments:
I have never been to one, since I didn't graduate. I am a highschool drop out. I got married while still in highschool. My husband at that time wanted me to drop out. I think that perhaps he sensed that I was smarter than him and he wanted to keep my self esteem low. Didn't stop me from getting a divorce and going on to nursing school after getting my GED. I graduated in the top 2 percent of nursing students in the United States. I guess I really was too smart for him! Reunions are over-rated. I doubt I would go even if I had a diploma.
Kathy,
Whoa! You're practically a national valedictorian!
A classmate of mine who probably attended the reunion was director of the local college nursing program. And two guys got their nursing degrees, one becoming an EMT afterward, and the other going on to be in charge of a local hospital emergency room. That's no walk in the park. But it might be easier than running your kampground!
Hey Val! I've been to "a few" of my reunions, and mostly because of a very vain reason. I looked so much better than I did in high school!! I was slim and cute, petite and wore contacts,(at the reunions) instead of chubby and pointy glasses as in high school! HA! And some of the guys and gals that WERE cute or handsome...uh, not so much at the reunions! :D
I've never attended one either. No reason to. Why talk to people that have never kept in touch. Anyway all the important ppl are at walmart anyways:)
I don't mind crowds. I do mind those OLD classmates, can't bear to look at the baldies, the gals with big haunches and paunches, because I wonder what they're thinking of me. I'm still young too.
What was the name of the BOOK!? Please.
Becky,
Glad to hear that you are a reunion celebrity! Roll with it. Let your vain flag fly!
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Josh,
How true. I tried to track down my closest friends when I returned to the area after being away for 10 years. Nope. They had moved on with their lives. Without me.
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Linda,
Yeah, reunions wouldn't be so bad without all those old people.
I tried to email you the name of that book. Let me know if you don't get the email.
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