I went to my 20th high school reunion this weekend. It was more fun than I ever expected it to be. It felt like a time warp had happened and I was a teenager again. Of course we all looked like grown ups and talked about the grown up things we were doing but I felt carefree again. It was fantastic.
The weekend started with meeting up with Karyn, Rachel and Mimi at the park next to school. Meem and I brought our girls. They are all almost the same ages and have met before. They took off to play which left the 4 big "girls" to talk. Rachel and Mimi also had husbands in tow but they were kind enough to indulge our conversation without asking for explanations. Three of us brought yearbooks, I had a photo album and Rachel brought letters and notes we had written to her over the years. It was hilarious to go through it all. Our hair was ridiculously big and our clothes were unmentionable. But we knew we looked good then right? We stayed at the park until we started hearing from the little girls that it was pushing lunch time. But first we needed to do a walk through of campus. We posed at our lunch spot for pictures. The girls had fun playing with all the lockers as we walked the halls pointing out classes and places we remembered. The school looks pretty much the same just a bit older - kind of like us.
After dropping my girls off at Grandma's and shedding the other parts of our families we had lunch at Lazy Dog Cafe. It was so cool to reminisce and to catch up with current events. It was like no time at all had passed. We could have all been together last week instead of years and years ago. These girls are not casual acquaintances but life long friends in the truest sense of the word. After lunch we drove around town visiting each other's houses. We walked up the drive of Rachel's house pointing out the changes we saw. We tried ringing the bell but no one was home. That gave us time to stare at the backyard without interruption. When we were done we were "caught" by one of the neighbors who turned out to be a friend of Rae's mom. They got a chance to catch up for a few minutes then we were off to Mimi's house. We visited with her parents for a few minutes, took some pictures on their steps just like we did in the old days and I got to try on an extra dress Mimi had. I wasn't planning on going to the Saturday night main event and hadn't bought a ticket. But they convinced me to at least come to the social hour beforehand that was taking place in the bar area. At this point I could have gone home happy and felt like the reunion was a total success. It was so great hanging out with people that shared so many of my memories. It was funny to see who remembered what and be reminded of things I had totally forgotten about.
We all took a quick break to go get ready for the hotel part of the reunion. Karyn and I went back to Mom's house to get ready. I was able to dig out some more pictures and scrapbooks I had kept. When Mom, Rich and the girls got home from swimming we all sat and talked and caught up some more. After spending the afternoon with the girls there wasn't anyone else I had to see but it was really fun to see everyone that had shown up. The conversations were more superficial and interrupted but fun none the less. I was so impressed by how successful everyone was. Not just financially but overall. People seemed happy and satisfied with life. Maybe the ones who aren't didn't come - who knows? Some people were so easy to identify, they hadn't changed a bit since high school. Others I was really glad had name tags on. After awhile everyone I wanted to talk to had wandered over to the dining room and I headed back to Mom's house.
Sunday there was a family picnic at the park behind the library. It was casual with all the kiddos running around. The conversations were better though because it was a smaller crowd and people could stay in one place longer. I brought out my photo album again. It spurred a lot of catching up about people who hadn't made it too. All too soon I had to pack up my kiddos and head home. I really hope we don't have to wait 10 years to do it again. There is already talk of doing something for the 4 of us girls when we turn (dare I say it?) 40 in a couple of years. Possibly there will be something for the 25th. We'll see how it all turns out. For now I will continue to bask in the glow of good times.
