Okay, let’s get it out of the way. This past weekend I attended my 20th high school reunion. So some of you are thinking,”Wow, Tenor Dad is super old!” and some of you are thinking “What a baby, only 20 years?” And the rest of you are people I went to high school and college with, so you are thinking “Yeah, that’s about right.” It’s all perspective. To those younger than me, you will get here eventually, and to those older than I am, you were here once too. So let’s move on.
At my 10 year reunion there was curiosity. Facebook was not omnipresent yet. We had all, most of us, finished college just 6 years before, and it seemed like a great reason to come home and get wasted with our old friends. At least that’s what it seemed like it seemed like to me. People had started down their paths, and it was all very new to us. Some people had moved across the country, or even overseas, and others were launching into exciting careers. And one person had a kid, which was the talk of the reunion. A kid! Someone had a kid! Insanity. The rest of the old gang hung out at the bar, and I wondered if any of them hooked up afterwards. In the movies, reunions are basically singles mixers.
The 20 year reunion started with a family picnic. This time it was weird if you didn’t have a kid! People arrived with spouses, children, significant others, and I did not leave wondering who was going to hook up with who. We had kids. None of us were getting any. And as the adults chatted over unsweetened iced tea, we watched our children playing together in the park, laughing and running like we used to do. It was Us: The Next Generation. And it was kind of awesome.
Not that we didn’t go drinking afterwards. The kids were home with the spouses or the grandparents, and we adults, we 17-year-olds in adult bodies, pretending to be grown-ups, we came back to each other. There weren’t as many of us as there were ten years prior; work and family obligations are much stronger at 20 years out. And the pull home may weaken for some as time passes. If we lived far away, rather than in town, would we have come back? I think we would have, because I am very nostalgic, but I can see why some people don’t. But people who didn’t, I’m sorry; you missed out.
As we thread our way through life, never knowing what is around the next corner, it is important to remember where we came from, not just because of the lessons we learned, but because these places, these people, helped shaped us into what we have become. And we shaped them. Like it or not, that community is a part of you. So why not stop by for a moment to remember and reconnect? I’m glad I did. Maybe I’ll see you at the next one.