What to Expect at a High School Reunion

Ever wondered what to expect at a high school reunion?

I’ve been to four now, so think I can safely say that I am something of a veteran!

3 Years

The first class reunion was held just 3 years after graduation – a picnic in the City Botanic Gardens.

Afterwards, I wondered why I’d bothered to go. Nothing much had changed – people stayed in the same cliques that they had at school and ignored anybody else. Those who had gone on to studies were still studying; nobody who actually turned up was married or had children yet.

10 Years

I couldn’t wait to attend my 10 year class reunion – I felt like finally I’d “made it”. I was married, we’d had a beautiful wedding and had just moved into our gorgeous new home, and I was six months pregnant with our first child – still at the “glowing” stage of pregnancy rather than the “I feel like the Goodyear Blimp and will never be attractive again” final days.

I was so proud of my wedding rings and my “bump” – visible proof that somebody loved me! (Now I just feel sad for how desperate I was to feel like a “somebody”.)

I wasn’t the only one expecting a baby at that reunion – one smarty pants joked that it felt weird to see all these pregnant school girls!

But, people were still quite cliquey and didn’t really mingle all that much.

20 Years

My initial thought on walking up to the group at my 20 year reunion was, “Who are all these OLD people?”! So many were grey, or had put on weight, the guys were balding … surely I didn’t look that bad – did I?!

Maybe it was just me that had changed, or maybe everybody had mellowed; I don’t know. But I really had fun at that one! I didn’t care about the “in” crowd, or the cliques – I was there to have a good time. I talked to just about everybody and enjoyed catching up on all their news. I even got to thank a special teacher for her input into my life.

30 Years

And on the weekend, I went to the 30th anniversary reunion for the Class of ’83. It seems like only yesterday I graduated high school – and yet, three decades have passed. My youngest child will be graduating in just four short weeks; the “baby bump” I proudly sported at my 10 year reunion will be 20 on his next birthday. My how time flies!

It was a smaller group this time around; I guess more people have moved out of the area, or it just no longer seems important to some. We did have some people travel a fair distance though – from the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, Cairns, Sydney, Adelaide and Tasmania.

I was pretty much the only one that came from “south of river”. Brisbanites will already know that our city is divided by the Brisbane River; and never the twain shall meet!

I grew up on the northside; then I met and married a Redlands boy, and shifted to the south (traitor!). Upon hearing where I now live, one person asked if I had married a southsider – as that would be the only reason anybody would ever move there! (Don’t worry, I soon set them straight –  I live in the REDLANDS, not just the southside, and it’s God’s own country!)

We toasted absent friends – those who have passed away – and those we just can’t find, even with the wonders of the world wide web. One girl in particular was very outgoing and seemed destined for a brilliant career in the performing arts, but nobody has heard anything from her for over 25 years – it’s like she has dropped off the face of the earth. I know women often change their names upon marriage but even so, this is a rare case. Most people seem to be in contact with at least one person from their school days, often more thanks to Facebook.

Forever Friends

These days I only keep in touch with one friend from high school. We met in Year 11 when we shared every single class except English – no wonder we became best friends!

Thirty years on we are still friends, although we don’t get to see each other much since I moved to the ends of the earth the other side of town.

I was a bridesmaid at her wedding; her daughter was a flowergirl at mine. I gave a speech at that daughter’s wedding, and have since cuddled my friend’s first grandbaby – things we would never have imagined back when we were swinging on our chairs at the back of maths class, giggling and passing notes to each other.

Have you been to a high school reunion? What was it like?