This past weekend marked a fairly significant milestone for me: my 10 year high school reunion. It is still so hard for me to believe that I have been out of high school for TEN years – that’s insane! Yet when I actually sit back and look at the past ten years I realize how much has happened and how much I have changed.
When talk about the reunion first started it was very interesting to me to see the mixed reaction. There were people, like me, who were beyond excited to see old friends and reconnect beyond the occasional Facebook status comment or “like” and then there were people who wanted nothing to do with it whatsoever. For me, looking back on high school always brings a smile to my face. I loved all four years and didn’t even stop to think about whether or not I felt successful enough or impressive enough or attractive enough to see these people I hadn’t seen in ten years, all I knew was that I wanted to go.
With a few exceptions, most of the people who I knew would be attending (and that I wanted to see) were people that I have either kept in close contact with over the years or recently reconnected with, but there was one group that I adored in high school that I wanted to see outside of the confines of Facebook more than anything. They called themselves the AWG, which stood for “Average White Guys,” and for whatever reason I always had a great connection with them. So of course I was thrilled beyond belief when I found out that all five of them would be attending and, even more awesome, they wanted to get together with me the night before the main event in a sort or pre-reunion reunion. Hanging out with them felt like I had I gone back in time 10+ years and it was more fun than I could have imagined.
I am so glad that I went to my reunion. Things that I might normally be embarrassed to tell people I have just met I was able share with this group without fear of being judged even though it had been so long since I had seen them because of the deep connections that still existed from such an important time in our lives. Even though so many years had passed we were able to look at one another as we all are today and still see the teenagers we had once been and the friendships we had once had. I never truly appreciated how precious that was before this and I don’t intend to lose it.
Have you had any high school reunions yet? Did you go? What was it like for you reconnecting with your friends of old? Let me know in the comments.
