High School Reunion

I did it! I survived my class reunion.
I did more than survive; I had fun!

I was glad I could locate my high school yearbook to take a peek at names and faces I haven't thought of in decades. I was glad they put our high school pictures on our name tags; no one was bashful about trying to match that memory with the older faces staring back at them. But I recognized many and could call them by name.

It was interesting to be in a room full of people all your same age.
I thought everyone looked pretty darn good. I was surprised to learn that over 30 people in my graduating class of over 400 had passed away, but then I remembered how old we all are. We really didn't look it.

I won the honors of having the most children, though I was tied with my friend Robin who wasn't there. I was one of the few who had never been to a class reunion. Other than that, I didn't have to reveal much more about myself than where I currently lived.

I learned that at least two members of my class had joined the Church. One was our class clown who joined after his experience in Viet Nam, and is now a temple worker in Mesa. The other was a quiet boy I hardly remember, but who I ended up sitting by at dinner.

I love the saying,
"When you leave a room, you take something with you and you leave something behind."
I think that is true of high school. The people you know and the experiences you have help mold the person you are. You take that with you. But you also influence others, and that stays with them.
I was gratified that even though I have thought very little of high school since I left, there were people who remembered me, were glad to see me, were even hoping I would come. Not bad for the quiet, awkward, backward girl that I was.

The hour's drive to the reunion over the familiar roads of my childhood gave me a chance to think about the experiences and relationships of my life. Amidst the serenity of evergreens, I felt an overwhelming peace about my life. I couldn't think of any loose ends, undone business, or unspent grudges. I'm not perfect and my life was far from it, yet I felt a great peace about it.

The feelings I had when looking at my yearbook were confirmed at my reunion: I went to school with really good people. When I think of my children's high school experiences, the jerks, the language, the immorality, and the drama, I feel very blessed that my asociates in school, pretty much my whole class, were really decent people, and still are.

They joked about us being too old to last the night, and I confess, in spite of my good intentions, I left a little early. I took my only chance to visit my family home on the lake. I was struck again at how lucky we were to grow up where we did, to live on beautiful lake property, to have such good friends, to have such good and pure memories in our later years.

I still don't know why I felt so strongly about attending this reunion, but it allowed me to reconnect with that formative part of my life, to experience peace about my life, and it heightened my gratitude for the blessings of my life.

Maybe I didn't go for someone else; maybe it was for me.