Private Life
"Oh my god! You haven't changed a bit!!"...
JoMN - 09:04 am Pacific Time - Mar 11, 2007 - #58 of 89
I went to my 20-year in 2004. I went by myself, and there were few people that I really wanted to see, but I needed to get out and thought it might be fun to let everyone know that "Quiet Nerdy Girl in the Back of Mr. Zwach's Class" turned out pretty good after all.
As I expected, few people remembered me. The ones who did were people I'd knowN all the way through elementary school, and we had a great time together. Since I'm not nearly so introverted anymore, I was also able to chat up quite a lot of people that I remembered (I remember almost everyone) and re-met some interesting folk.
The best, though, came about 10 months after the reunion. One day I received a small package in the mail from one of my elementary school classmates. In it was a little book I'd written in first grade for our class book sale, and a letter from said classmate telling me how he had been helping his parents get ready to move and had found my book in a box of his old school work. He went on to describe how he had talked his mom into buying my book (first-grader crush and all...), and said he felt it was time to send it back to its rightful owner. I still have it, and I smile every time I see it.
hedy - 01:21 pm Pacific Time - Mar 11, 2007 - #60 of 89
see! now that's why i started this thread! well, that and the snark on the former prom queen :-)
JoMN - 01:57 pm Pacific Time - Mar 11, 2007 - #61 of 89
Okay, I was trying to be nice, but while we're on the subject I cannot begin to describe the satisfaction I felt at the reunion when (feeling thin and gorgeous and wearing a fabulous dress from Anthropologie) I saw two girls who were absolutely rotten to me in HS looking like a couple of old trailer-park skanks.
vorpal_blade - 05:28 pm Pacific Time - Mar 11, 2007 - #66 of 89
You know, at my 12-year reunion, it was somehow evilly thrilling to see that all of the beautiful people mostly really weren't anymore, and the ones who'd been weird or awkward or had bad situations had really blossomed as adults.
RSA - 06:42 pm Pacific Time - Mar 11, 2007 - #67 of 89
Such interesting modern American archetypes have appeared in this thread! An approximate summary:
The football star turned balding, portly car salesman.
The prom queen turned trailer-park skank.
The small-time pot dealer turned dog food salesman.
The awkward social outcast turned. . . well, let's imagine successful artist.
The valedictorian "turned" polymath.
Nicola O. - 10:41 pm Pacific Time - Mar 11, 2007 - #71 of 89
Went to the 10th. It was OK. There was an informal happy hour at a local bar that was pretty fun, but surreal. All through college I would have weird dreams about my college friends in high school situations, and then here I was surrounded by half-familiar faces perched atop completed unfamiliar bodies, and completely out of context in a bar (I was not a drinker at all in HS). The reunion itself was along the lines of a mediocre wedding reception in the ballroom of a Holiday Inn or some such hotel. Talked to a few people, danced with my date when I got bored.
One guy, who had been the class president for at least 2 of our 4 years, chatted me up for a while. He was "in real estate" (he had bought a bar in our hometown, pop. 6000). I mentioned that I'd gone to U of IL, and he said, "Oh, that's where I went for my MBA." (pause) "That stands for Masters' of Business Administration."
I almost sprained my eyeballs with the rolling, but couldn't resist replying, "I know. Mine's from the University of Chicago."
Skipped the 20th. I was 7 months pregnant and while I am not a heavy drinker, I was absolutely not about to go to the reunion with my belly out to there and unable to drink.
marjoriem - 08:44 am Pacific Time - Mar 21, 2007 - #83 of 89
I was appalled when I attended my 20th. Here I figured would be a room full of adults with shared experiences -- same school, same teachers, etc. But, oh no. Everyone was still sitting in their freaking cliques, treating me as if I were invisible. The idiot boy who had the grooviest hair now had a groovy toupee. Seriously. I flew 2000 miles to go to this. Later, I realized I should have gone to my friend's 20th instead (she graduated 2 years before me). That's where my actual friends would have been. Sad.
MariaC - 05:55 pm Pacific Time - Mar 14, 2007 - #79 of 89
At one of my reunions I sat at a big table with 10 or so people chatting politely. Afterward I went out with a smaller group (4) and one of them said, "That wasn't so bad. I'm just glad that Pam X. wasn't there. I don't know what I would have done." I replied, "Pam X. was sitting right next to you all night." Hee!
Best of Table Talk is an ongoing feature of Salon's vibrant community forum. Older posts of the week may be found in TT. Want to join the discussion? Sign up here.
Shares