Lessons I took away from attending my 20 year high school reunion this weekend:
1. Go. I wrestled with the decision of whether or not to attend this reunion, mainly because I couldn’t decide what value it would add to my life when FB already fills in the holes in the lives of old buddies. Let me just say it’s worth it to see folks in real life, get real hugs, and hear real laughs & struggles of old friends. Just go. You won’t regret it.
2. We all have crap. I had some anxieties about attending…. Baby weight still being present, having been through a divorce already, etc… And after just a few conversations, I realized everyone had the same crap they were worried about … So let that crap go, and enjoy the experience.
3. Embrace the awkward. One of the most awkward feelings in life I have decided, is to have someone walk towards you saying your name and excited to talk, and you can’t remember their name. Well, that will happen at your class reunion. So just accept it, don’t be offended if people don’t recognize you, and don’t beat yourself up if you can’t remember others. We are officially old now, it’s gonna happen?
4. Look at the name tags. I was nervous to offend folks by looking at their name tags, because they might realize I didn’t at first know their name (so I did a lot of the “heyyy how are you” type greetings). Ummmm who cares? It’s a reunion. You’re expected to not remember. Just look. Embrace the awkward, remember.
5. Move around. I’m looking at a steady flow of pictures on FB from last night’s event, and I can’t believe how many people I didn’t get to talk to by the end of the night. I shoulda been moving around a bit more!
6. Man, so many of us have matured. A lot of old beef between people, guards people had up, and silly-cliques have melted away with age. Life is humbling to say the least, and it felt really good to be amongst just common folk with similar problems and experiences to talk about.
7. High school drama still exists. Despite my previous point, I was worried about seeing people I may not have had the best friendships or relationships with…. And some proved me right. Were there people that I saw specifically avoid me….yup. But, honestly, at this point in our lives, who cares? Sometimes you need to let things roll off you like water off a duck’s back.
8. We still look good. Despite realizing that Blake Shelton, Keri Russell, Liv Tyler, and John Cena are all our age (and yet in my mind look much older than us), we still look good. Hells yeah, 95ers. Nicely done.
See you in 10.
