Have you ever been to your school reunion?

I went to my 30th. It wasn't great but wasn't bad. It was fun to see everybody "all grown up". I really have no desire to go to another one. We don't have much in common any more.
 

Went to my 55th in 2010. It was a good excuse to go back to the hometown and see everybody. Friday night was at a bar we all remembered. Saturday was at a nice restaurant on the water. Sunday morning was breakfast at the local diner. The places seemed as important as the people. Everyone behaved.
 
I went to an all boys boarding school, there was only 15 of us in our class. We graduate in 1973. We had reunions every 5 years till 1993. Our 50th reunion was this past September. Five of us are passed away, one has ghosted us since1983, I couldn't make it due to health reasons, but they gave me video calls both evenings. Two of the widows attended as well. For the past year or so we've had a group text message we use to share news on occasion. We are more like family than most of my blood relatives.
 

I went to my 20th year High School Reunion. I was 39 at the time.

I went to a small Southern Baptist school that had everything from Elementary to High School. I was part of a small class of 55, so the reunion was the class of '75 and '76 (my class).

I had a girlfriend for 3 years in High School but came out as gay in '79. We remained close, so I was her "date" at the reunion. We had a table full of the "fun" people. One guy brought a bottle of champagne. Every other table was mortified because my school didn't believe in drinking. Several of us danced together after the reunion. My school didn't believe in dancing.

The Senior Class President from '75 gave a speech about "our future path". (Really, at 40 years old after 20 years?) My speech was about how far we had come and how we now knew ourselves and were comfortable with our tragectory in life. I was proud to have come so far after 20 years, after being closeted and pretending to be something I wasn't.

Frankly, it was depressing that so many of my classmates had never wandered outside of their bubbles nor progressed with their lives. I had moved to another city and my career was thriving. They were still clinging to the past. I never went to another reunion.
 
seadoug said:
I went to my 20th year High School Reunion. I was 39 at the time.

I went to a small Southern Baptist school that had everything from Elementary to High School. I was part of a small class of 55, so the reunion was the class of '75 and '76 (my class).

I had a girlfriend for 3 years in High School but came out as gay in '79. We remained close, so I was her "date" at the reunion. We had a table full of the "fun" people. One guy brought a bottle of champagne. Every other table was mortified because my school didn't believe in drinking. Several of us danced together after the reunion. My school didn't believe in dancing.

The Senior Class President from '75 gave a speech about "our future path". (Really, at 40 years old after 20 years?) My speech was about how far we had come and how we now knew ourselves and were comfortable with our tragectory in life. I was proud to have come so far after 20 years, after being closeted and pretending to be something I wasn't.

Frankly, it was depressing that so many of my classmates had never wandered outside of their bubbles nor progressed with their lives. I had moved to another city and my career was thriving. They were still clinging to the past. I never went to another reunion.
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I agree.. as I said in my post previously ..one of my group of friends was working in a supermarket just in the next town from where we grew up... and another of the same group ( we were a group of 6)..STILL lived in her mothers home, and worked in the same office that she started in on leaving school.. which was just a 10 minute walk from her house and our old school.

This makes some people happy.. but I was horrified..I had been all around our country, living in various places a a Navy wife.. I'd travelled abroad, I'd worked at various occupations, I;d bought several properties here and abroad . I'd married a High flyer (been married twice) .. my daughter was an adult by then...

How could this really good looking, highly fashionable friend at school still be single, no kids, and living in the home she was living in when we were at school? I knew that house well I'd been in it many times ...each to their own of course but wow!

She thought she'd seen the world because every year she took a 2 week holiday to Canada .... good grief....this was about 20 years ago when I discovered this.. and here we are, and she's recently retired from the one company she's worked at all her life within sight of her mothers' house and a 10 minute walk home, and she'll likely die in that house.... astounding to me..
 
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Not since my five year reunion in 76. Having the former quarterback take over the mike drunker than a skunk wasn’t anything I needed to see again.

The 50 year reunion got postponed because of Covid and the woman who was in charge of seeking out we no attendees was very nice. So I declined but invited her to stop by for tea in the garden if that worked out. Gratefully it didn’t.

These kind of things are for people with roots in the community who really want to reconnect to recollect. Not a good place to make new friends for a navy brat who was only there for a short time. The first time conversations around me were going back to early elementary. Yuck.
 
Gardenlover said:
Bullies and fights... and a few girlfriends is all I recall.

IMO - the past is best left in the past.
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There is a good case for leaving the past alone. However, it is interesting to talk to those you knew as a youngster at high school about how life has turned out. Just discuss and understand the passage of time and put things into perspective.
 
No because I didn't graduate. I had lots of problems and barely went to school at the end. Then I quit.

Some years later I took the GED test and passed. After that several years later I went to college. At first I had to do a lot of remedial classes and mostly math and English. Then I went from the community college to the university. Got my B A and MEd. And I really enjoyed it!
 
I got a reunion invite many years ago, but I had moved from NJ to NY and was starting a livestock farm.
About a week later my husband, alive and well ,then, saw a letter for me in the mail, from a man, in NJ and asked me if that was from my NJ ' boyfriend' - he was just kidding, but the letter was from someone I knew at school who I would never want to see again. He got my address from the reunion committee.

I am still in contact with my best friend from my earliest school days and she has visited me in NY a few times over the years.
 
Yes, I've been to several...we used to have them every 10 years....also we had a group of about 10 or 12 women classmates that got together maybe once a year....but it has been several years since we've done either...now it's communicating by phone or email and even that seems to be less and less.
 
Widow of Vietnam Vet said:
I got a reunion invite many years ago, but I had moved from NJ to NY and was starting a livestock farm.
About a week later my husband, alive and well ,then, saw a letter for me in the mail, from a man, in NJ and asked me if that was from my NJ ' boyfriend' - he was just kidding, but the letter was from someone I knew at school who I would never want to see again. He got my address from the reunion committee.

I am still in contact with my best friend from my earliest school days and she has visited me in NY a few times over the years.
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My goodness how dare they have given your private address out, what if your husband had been a jealous type...good grief that could have caused no end of problems
 
Nope. I hated school and dropped out. Many of the kids were Aholes. Always felt like a target. Couldn't learn anything from a book. I went to work instead. I see some of them from time to time, but I'm sure not going to a reunion where the ones that thought they were better than me, will be.
 
MarkD said:
These kind of things are for people with roots in the community who really want to reconnect to recollect. Not a good place to make new friends for a navy brat who was only there for a short time. The first time conversations around me were going back to early elementary. Yuck
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My reason for not going. I did go to the 25th and learned my lesson. I lived in this smaller community for only a few years, then left for college and never returned. Most of these folks had started kindergarten together. It’s not something that can be compensated for.
 
I'm sorry to read how many had unpleasant reunion experiences. Seems I just got lucky with the people I've connected with at my HS reunions.

Some of my former classmates remained within 30 miles-ish of the area where they grew up (I was only there from ages 11-17), but well over half scattered themselves across the country and a few live abroad.
 
I did join a facebook group for my graduating class. If any classmates want to chat with me, they can find me there. None have, nor have I reached out to any. That about sums up my need to attend a reunion where my wife gets dragged along and has a lousy time.
 
Yeah went to what I think was #40 and was of little value though I was a relatively undistinguished socially unknown person at my school. Mostly attended by a core group of very social locals to the HS that had apparently always remained in contact. Almost all of them though my age, were physically looking so much older that I felt embarrassed, so drove back home instead of attending an evening social event with a band.
 
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