10 Year High School Reunion to go or not to go?

Post date: 30-May-2010 20:56:53

We went and I am glad we did. My sole motivation for going was curiosity. I think that is the reason why a lot of people attend. Although the second reason is probably to show off and the third is to see friends you would like to see again (usually only half of the friends that you would like to see actually attend).

The 10 year W.P. Wagner reunion was held at the New York Club (owned by a graduate) which made the tickets cheap but hard to hear people you were talking to. On the plus side, the bar atmosphere forced people to wander and mingle. When we first arrived it was amazing to see how fast the cliques formed again, but these cliques also split up as the night went on and most people were happy to talk with anyone and everyone. Some people's faces really aged, while other people' stayed the same. Most people seemed to have more confidence than when they were in high school and generally seemed happy in their skin. This was great to see.

Since we were at the bar, the formal dress code drifted for most people. I was fairly fancily dressed, but Colin wore jeans and a dress shirt and many other people opted for the same fashion code as Colin.

The snow didn't stop me from breaking out my heels.

Colin lived vicariously through me since his 10-year high school reunion was never organized. I'm glad that mine was organized and I'm glad I attended. It was more fun than I thought it would be and I enjoyed catching up with people. Even though I studied the year book ahead of time, there were still people whose names I couldn't remember and people that I was surprised who remembered me. With a graduating class of 300 it's hard to remember/know everyone. I would say that almost 1/3 of graduates attended. That is a descent turn out when you consider how many people might be out of town now.

I wasn't nervous to talk to people, but I was surprised that more gay couples brought their significant others than straight people. I guess someone needed to look after the kids though (although or course gay couples can have kids too) and spouses also wouldn't know anyone. I was glad to have the support of my husband by my side.

I think people have more in common at high school reunions than they did in high school because most of us have grown up. The standard questions about life are asked and repeated to each person that you talk to throughout the night:

    • Married?
    • Kids? Ages and sex of kids?
    • Job?
    • Degree?
    • Housing?
    • Travel?

We were at the bar for just over three hours and managed to talk to just over a dozen grads. It was great to catch up and my curiosity was satisfied.

Dressed to brave the weather.

Typical Edmonton weather.