<p>Good timing on this thread. My 30th is this fall (yikes). I do not want to take DH since he won’t know anyone and I doubt if he wants to go. So do you all think that it would be ok to take my sister (graduated 2 yrs after me from the same school)along with me? Growing up we pretty much hung out together and I figured she would remember people I have forgotten.</p>
<p>fendrock I am with bethie. If anyone makes a durogatory remark it’s because that person feels insecure about their choices. There are plenty of careers you could have chosen and you chose the one that matters most. Here’s to you! Clink Clink woot woot hip hip hoooray!</p>
<p>I wonder if it’s certain personalities that enjoy visiting with people they’d previously chosen to ignore for 20+ years. I went on advice of a friend, and found that all I had in common with those folks was the six years we spent together in Junior and Senior High. Perhaps I should start a thread on HS Reunion ‘lo’ lights. Hmm, for starters how 'bout “Six cancers and six marriages, and I learned something from each one.” Gee, thanks for sharing Judy.</p>
<p>My 40th reunion is in October–I attended the 10th, 20th and 30th and enjoyed them all; I went to an excellent public high school 500 miles from where I live now-- where almost everyone (class of 400) went to college. For the 30th, I let DH stay home and attended solo; I had fun visiting with people I was never friendly with in school and got to say things to people that I never in a million years could have said back in the day. I was a late bloomer.</p>
<p>One reason to go to these events filled with people that I only see every 10 years is the feeling of being with people who knew me --even superficially–when I was young is an experience I don’t often get to have. I live far from t he city where I grew up, and that long ago connection feels very precious.</p>
<p>I loved my sort of 20th. I grew up on a military base and lost all my friends to transfers and Vietnam…only four or five kids in my school went to residential colleges, and I was one of the privileged. It meant the world to me to see them again and we owe it all to the internet and militarybrats.com and email. I could see that their needs were like my needs…I moved my senior year, my sister moved both her junior and senior years…so…it was tough! One thing I learned after 20 years was that although my education means a lot, the achievements of my friends who supported their families without a fancy education, without college educated parents who helped pay tuition, or who put themselves through college at night or over many years…were remarkable and really impressive. In our 40s we had more in common than when we were 17, and we were all a “lot smarter” if you know what I mean, not book smarter.</p>
<p>I went to both 10th and 20th, and there was a big difference. At 10th everybody is about 28 years old and still looks pretty good. At 20th everybody is about 38 years old and some look still look pretty good, but some have really started to age – seriously overweight, bald, gray hair, etc.</p>
<p>The most memorable thing about the 20th was one woman showed up with the goal of really wowing everybody. She had a serious makeover - got rid of her glasses, lost weight - in fact looked seriously buff, flashy new clothes and make-up, and even breast implants. Accoridng to her girlfriends she had never really gotten over being a wallflower in high school and had been making herself over for the past couple years in preparation for this one event - to have everybody notice her, to have all the boys want to dance with her who never ntoiced her back in the day. </p>
<p>She certainly did cut an impressive figure. She was the talk of the event, so I guess her efforts paid off. But I thought the whole thing was kind of sad. Back in high school I actually was president of the Science Club, which tells you everything you need to know about my lowly status on the high school hierarchy. But hey, I’ve long since moved on. I find it sad that someone was still obsessed with their high school (un)popularity 20 years after the fact.</p>
<p>Went to my 30th last year. Most surprising things: the makeovers mentioned by coureur. Be prepared to see some remarkable and expensive cleavage. </p>
<p>My DH and I graduated in the same HS class so we enjoy cruising the party and then comparing notes behind the potted plants. Reunions are much more fun if you can find a friend from your class to go with you. It’s much easier to chat with someone you know and enjoy, if there is a lull in the action, and you have someone to gossip with about the rest of the group. </p>
<p>The best part of our reunions has been realizing that everyone has similar goals: raising healthy, happy kids, pursuing a few passions whether at work or play, and giving something back. Those who approach the reunion as something other than a competition have a reasonably good time sharing memories and getting current.</p>
<p>Bonus chapter: I admit, at my 20th, I was hoping to run in to, and impress, a former boyfriend. He had dumped me for someone else, and I was hoping I had aged well enough to cause regret. We made eye contact across the room for a couple of hours, but never spoke. I kept thinking I would wait him out, and eventually he would feel compelled to come talk to me. I’ll be darned if I would make the first move, since I had been the injured party. He finally made his way over to me, but his words were, “My friends say I should come say hi. They say we used to date, but I just don’t remember much from high school. I was in a major car accident a few years ago, had a head injury, and lost a few years there.” I felt like an utter idiot, and have approached reunions with a lot more humility ever since!</p>
<p>Some great stories here!</p>
<p>historymom, thanks for your kind words.</p>
<p>I must say that I can understand the concern with looking good. But of course it’s impossible at a 30th reunion to look as good when you were graduating from high school.</p>
<p>The most one can hope for is low lighting.</p>
<p>Fendrock–</p>
<p>. . . and good genes! One of my favorite moments at my 30th was when one of my male classmates said to me, in talking about a former cheerleader female classmate who just walked by, that xxxxx looked pretty good, but, “Dg, you look fantastic!” </p>
<p>And coureur, while not president of the science club, I was news editor of the paper and an officer in Mu Alpha Theta–so I have similar nerd credentials about which to be proud.</p>
<p>I missed my 10th but went to the 20th and it was surprisingly fun. I hadn’t “ignored” my classmates for 20 years, as one poster suggested, but when you go to college in another state, marry, & stay there, it’s difficult to keep up with hometown friends who have also married & moved to different states. It’s easier nowadays with the internet…some of us are rediscovering each other!</p>
<p>So it was great to see people again and reminisce. The most surprising thing was how some of the immature social butterflies had grown up into real people who would talk to you, and not just because they wanted to copy your homework. :D</p>
<p>The other surprising thing was how average most formerly beautiful people looked. I guess time is the great leveler.</p>
<p>I missed the 30th so have to hope I’m around for the 40th in 2012!</p>
<p>I attended my 20th and then last fall, my 25th hs reunions. They were a blast! My class had about 675 students in it, and pretty much everyone went away to college, so we’re all spread out now. I kept in touch with 4 of my closest girlfriends, but rarely see them as they live all over the country and in Europe. The one from Europe came in for the 20th, so the two of us and our husbands met up at that one. It was great - while none of my other close girlfriends showed up, most of the guys from our group were there - and it was a really good time. For the 25th, my friend from Europe couldn’t make it, so I talked 2 of my other friends into going (without our husbands) - it was so much fun. I connected with another good friend who I hadn’t seen since we were in our mid-twenties, and I saw one of my ex-boyfriends which was sort of cool. One thing about my high school - everyone was just so nice! It was not a cliquey place at all.</p>
<p>dg, I can’t hope for the good genes, 'cause I can already see the results of the genes I was handed…</p>
<p>It is very true though, the poster child for good aging genes being Demi Moore.</p>
<p>I’ve never attended a hs reunion, and never will. It was a bad, bad four years for me, and there’s absolutely nothing I’d care to reminisce about. I’m sure that time has ravaged my classmates in the same way it has me, and I had enough comparisons in high school. :)</p>
<p>I’d like to attend one of my husband’s reunions, just to see what such an institution is like, but he’s a live-in-the-moment kind of guy and he’s never gone to a reunion, either. If I’m really curious, I suppose I can watch that new TV show about reunions, which I don’t imagine will be around for long.</p>
<p>Went to my 10th and had a great time. Didn’t go to 20th. Haven’t heard anything about a possible 30th in a couple of years.</p>
<p>There is something especially fun, I think, about being with people who knew you during those teen years. At reunions past I’ve had people come up to me and say things like, “you always were the one who @@##$%^” and I’d crack up because I’d forgotten what a goofball I was. Its a part of my personality that’s kind of fallen by the wayside, and I appreciated being reminded of it! Anyone know what I mean?</p>
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<p>I have a sense that I may have had a few personality traits that were insufferable when I was in high school :cringe:</p>
<p>Fun posts you all have made.</p>
<p>I attended high school with some of the same people I went to grade school with, so when I attended my 15th I found it interesting to see people I best remembered as little kids. My best friend talked me into going and then moved away, so she wasn’t there either 
So many people didn’t show up to that reunion that I had almost no one to reminisce with. I did find it interesting to be in a room filled with older people exactly my age, and I did find it interesting, in a anthropological sense, to observe who sat with whom. Sadly, the geographic borders that mattered in our grade school still had their effect, and frankly, though I tried to find out how some of the bigger classmates were doing, I failed at that. We submitted info but never received a summary copy back, and inside allusions were made throughout the night that I didn’t get.</p>
<p>They held a 30th that I saw no reason to attend, though I see from pictures on the web that it was better attended.</p>
<p>I wonder whether today’s kids will attend these things?</p>
<p>I went to the tenth, it was very disappointing. It was a luau theme at an outdoor restaurant, and so dark, you couldn’t tell who was there.</p>
<p>The ‘awards’ for most interesting job, most kids, etc, went to the same popular kids that won everything in high school, without regard to the questionairres. I thought I was beyond that, but it irked me.</p>
<p>riverunner: WOW awesome story!</p>
<p>My American history teacher is coming back to ours and guess what she is now? A COLLEGE counselor!! Poor woman’s going to be harrassed the entire weekend. I’ll try to control myself, though!</p>