It's class reunion time, again. Will you be going?
I've never gone to an official class reunion, because it just seemed to me, in theory anyway, that it would just be about one-upping each other and pretending that the rented Mercedes was your "everyday car," and that kind of BS that none of us like to deal with. From what I heard from the couple of friends who have attended these reunions, it really wasn't like that, but was a strange experience, nonetheless. Facebook sort of gave me a class reunion, anyway, and it works out better because you can actually catch up a bit before being in that awkward position of smiling while trying to figure out why your old friend is so different than they were 10 or 20 years ago.
I recently attended an informal reunion of sorts, seeing a gang of old friends I hung out with for a couple of years in college. Most of them I haven't seen in at least fifteen years, maybe more, and others I saw maybe five years ago. A few of us keep in touch in the way of letting each other know we're still alive, but otherwise, as life tends to do, we've gone in different directions.
It was great in a lot of ways, in that seeing those I was closest to was amazing. It felt like we saw each other last week, and that time had barely passed at all. With the others, though, it's like we had that high school class reunion syndrome, remembering who we all were twenty years ago and expecting nothing to have changed. Catching up on that much time isn't something you can do at a cocktail party, and probably isn't something you want to do with people with whom you haven't bothered keeping in touch.
There were a couple of friends that I was close to where the vibe just wasn't there. I thought about how much fun we used to have together, the jokes we told, the lame grunge clothing we wore, and thought it would feel the same, only that we'd be older and better dressed. I didn't think about the years that came in-between, though, the lives we've led apart from each other, the joys and sorrows and hard work and personal growth that changed something in us in completely different and non-clickable ways. It was still great to see them, but I doubt we'll be in touch again.
So what makes friends either click or not click again, right away, after years of separation? What makes people seem either like soul mates or like mere acquaintances after so much time? Reunions are bittersweet, and I'm pretty sure that this last one convinced me that I've been right to avoid High School reunions. People change planes, and we don't always change to the same one our friends and loved ones are on.
So, will you be attending a reunion this year?
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