Posted by pseudoname on July 9, 2006, at 18:32:30
In reply to I'm only 4 years out of high school and already..., posted by Michael83 on July 9, 2006, at 1:53:56
Michael, you were born the year I graduated.
> I see all these new faces.
> It seems as though the people I once knew and loved are now gone. Replaced by new and different people with the same names.At age 41, this is increasingly how I view all of life. All of us get reassigned on a continuing basis and will soon be entirely replaced, including the little kids. I don't see it as depressing; just something to stay aware of.
> What's a 10 year reunion like?
My ten-year was okay. I tried to stay as drunk as possible throughout. I realized that night how awful high school had been; how much I really hated it and would never put up such stuff as an adult. I also got several mysteries solved, as did some of my friends, about events in high school & shortly after it. The mysteries were solved by the amazing device of just asking.
If you go, arrange beforehand to sit with people you know, or pick them up and arrive together, if possible. It's just a good idea. Getting stuck at the table of folks you never knew can dampen the evening.
> 20 year?
I was much worse off at age 38 than age 28, so I didn't go. I got a full report from a spy, though.
> More like a "gathering of strangers who somehow know each others names."
That's a lesson I learned, although I would spin it differently. People are complex; they were more complex then than we realized. Underestimating their unknown vastness was a big mistake, and one I have to keep reminding myself of all the time in order to repeat it less now.
poster:pseudoname
thread:665330
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060709/msgs/665533.html