Class Reunions -- Do You Go?

[chadknowslaw]

This weekend I am going home for my high school class reunion in Iowa. :corncob:

I think there will probably be 30 out of the 55 from my graduating class, and we are going to the country club that told us never to come back after our 5th Year Reunion [a whole BUNCH of us have gotten sober since that one :groovy: but the parts we can remember were fun ]

I am really looking forward to it-- most of my classmates I have not seen for years. How many of you that are old enough to have class reunions go to them??

[XXXWriterDude]

I skipped my 6th reunion (our class was lazy and didn't do a 5th), but I went to both my 10th and 15th-year reunions, and had a BLAST!

Going to the 10th was such a cathartic experience for me. I debated whether or not to go. Because I was actually living in my hometown (Gettysburg, PA) at that time, I didn't decide to go until the very last minute, and I'm so glad that I did. All the jocks and assholes who had previously kicked my ass or picked on my during high school came up to me and made it a point to shake my hand and say how happy they were to see me, and for the first time in my life, I was able to be who I was in front of those people. I'd carried such a chip on my shoulder around for so long from those awful junior high and high school days -- so much anger at those people. And to be able to be "out" and not care anymore what they thought, that was good enough. But to have them all embrace me for that very reason was the icing on the cake. I ended up staying out with them all night. The space we rented for the reunion kicked us out, so we went to a local bar, then went to the 24-hour diner for late-night food. It was one of the most cleansing experiences I'd ever had.

Now I make it a point to go home every five years for my reunions. It's no longer about me trying to prove myself to them. It's just about enjoying being an adult and recognizing that they had their own shit to deal with or that caused them to do what they did back then and forgiving them all their trespasses and getting on with life --and FUN!

I wholeheartedly recommend going to reunions to anyone.

[Dart]

Got my 20-year one coming up in October. And I'm actually really looking forward to it.

I've seen pics of all the guys that use to haze me and call me "fag". . .

. . .time has NOT been good to them. HEHEHEHEHEHEHE

Dart

[chadknowslaw]

When I was the county attorney, one of the guys that pushed me into lockers came up on charges of domestic assault. I did not treat him any differently but after he was sentenced, his laywer told me that he was scared I was going to send him to prison. That felt good ~ I treated him fairly but he remembered how he had treated me..

The quarterback of the football team is 60 pounds overweight and the manager of the auto parts store.

So, karma catches up~

That being said, the classmates I have talked with do not care one bit that I am gay, only that I am coming to the reunion. And that is the way it should be, right???

[CorbinFisher_BD]

I graduated from high school in Egypt so reunions haven't really been much of an option. It's quite a long ways to travel for a reunion.

Though all of my HS friends are spread out all over the world, many of my closest high school friends and I still get together once in awhile. One of my best friends from HS and I are planning a trip back to Egypt "for old time's sake" and getting some of our other good friends committed to going, and that should be pretty neat - especially since it's the plan for us all to bring wives, husbands, partners, kids, etc.

Stateside, Washington D.C. is our "homebase" so if I ever find myself there, there's always a few close HS friends to look up and see, and a bunch of us happen to be there at the same time, either for work or because it's where we are all "from" in a way, and catch up.

So whereas we don't really have official reunions as an option, many of us keep in close touch and make it a point to see eachother when we can.

[gaybucks_chip]

the classmates I have talked with do not care one bit that I am gay, only that I am coming to the reunion. And that is the way it should be, right???

I'm sure that's the case just as long as you don't show up in your Frankenfurter outfit, or wearing pumps and a party dress

[Sana Chan]

Nope. I went to two seperate high schools so I feel no love for either. And all of my friends were in different grades or in college at the time. So I have no reason to go back.

[mardigras]

I skipped my 25th last year as well as every previous one.

I went through 3 years of JROTC in HS and that was my social circle. By the time we graduated there were only 9 of us in the 3rd year, so everyone else I hung out with was a year or 2 behind me. It seems that nearly every well-known/bigwig doctor, lawyer, polititian in the area had kids my age, so there was a huge "snob" group... then there were the rednecks. I don't care enough about what happened to any them to go satisfy even the slightest bit of curiosity.

This past summer they had a "last half of the 70s" reunion. Since I graduated in '79 that would still leave out my friends that were a grade or 2 behind me.

[Jasun]

I got the most annoying invitation to my 10th.

It came off like it was written by June Cleaver "calling you home" and all that bullocks.

Events included a "Meet and Great (sic)" on Friday, a saturday "Family BBQ - Hip of Beef" and a Saturday night "Dance Dance Dance the night away". which was from 8 until 11. (11?)

I don't have a chip on my shoulder really, I didn't like any of those people when I went to high school and I don't care who got fat and who got bald and who got dead.

It would cost me a fortune to go back to New Brunswick and there's nothing to do other than wait for sweet death in that town, so it's not like I could make it a part of a vacation.

So, no.

[Togm]

Not for me..couldn`t stand anyone in my class .......

I WAS the only gay in the village!

[Paco]

Aside from my having to try out a few different high schools, I am not the type that liked, or likes, high school (HS) and never think things such as "I wish I was still...".

I had to work, while attending HS, and the first time I was forced to accept a bad grade, based on my attendance, really chafed me and got the ball rolling --- I eagerly went to HS to learn, but in stead I was constantly punished (thusly forcing me to retort with those two famous words, which forced me to "try out" a few HSs) because money did not fall from the sky. Never once was I in trouble for my work/grades.

Next, but equally as evil comes the very idiotic cliques - they added more fuel to that flame, simply because I never fit in to just one group, even though I was accepted by all (or most).
I was working - I could not chill with the kiddies.
I was smoking pot.
I was playing sports.
I was listening to house/dance music ... NOT ROCK & ROLL or hair-metal.
I did not wear jeans and t-shirts - I generally wore my work clothes (shirt, tie, slacks).
I no longer drank till I hurled &/or passed-out &/or forgot what I did that eve.
I hung around with the various ethnic groups.
I did not go to the beach, or get to spend summers with my HS chums.
I mainly hung around with my band of indians (I was one of 'em), and a very select group of girls, whom I later lived with.

All (students) were so worried about their "rep".
All (students) were so hypocritical.
All (students) were so childish, willing to destroy things sacred, such as friendship, merely to gain status by way of conquests (getting laid).

Uh, not thanks, I more or less hated them all and if/when walking down the street I hear or see a person, from 'the daze', I simply ignore, or turn to walk in the opposite direction.

I do so love the girls that I lived with, and love even more the crew of aboriginal Canadian friends (R.I.P. Dory).
And that is that!
The rest died and have floated away with the tides of change.

[LavenderLounge]

Unlike a lot of gay people, I was popular in high school and had a great time. I went to my 10th and that was enough.

We all fantasize about going to our reunion and being the star - like "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion". Unfortunately, one of my classmates got a medical degree, a doctorate in Philosophy, AND became famous astronaut! Tickertape parades and all. How do you compete with that?

Sample conversation:

Me: "...after that, I've been working in gay porn the last few years. What about you?"
Classmate: "Well, after spending 5 months as commander of the Russian space station, putting out the most severe fire on a spacecraft and surviving a slow, uncontrolled tumble through space, I've been kinda taking it easy..."

[XXXWriterDude]

Unlike a lot of gay people, I was popular in high school and had a great time. I went to my 10th and that was enough.

We all fantasize about going to our reunion and being the star - like "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion". Unfortunately, one of my classmates got a medical degree, a doctorate in Philosophy, AND became famous astronaut! Tickertape parades and all. How do you compete with that?

Sample conversation:

Me: "...after that, I've been working in gay porn the last few years. What about you?"
Classmate: "Well, after spending 5 months as commander of the Russian space station, putting out the most severe fire on a spacecraft and surviving a slow, uncontrolled tumble through space, I've been kinda taking it easy..."

LOL!

I was pretty confident when I went to mine. I was a reporter and columnist with my picture in the local paper when mine rolled around, so I was already a bit of a "celebrinality" (read: not really a celebrity; more like a recognizable personality), and I'd co-founded a theater in Maryland. So I was pretty confident that I'd accomplished quite a bit. The fact that I'm out here in L.A. now and have had a book published is pretty big news to my classmates back home, but honestly, sometimes I think they have it much better than I do. There's not as much pressure on them to have big stories to tell at the reunions. Me, on the other hand ... they want to know about which celebrities I've seen, if I've had a screenplay sold yet, etc. etc. etc.

[chadknowslaw]

My class reunion went very very well -- only about 28 out of the 56 or so but no attitudes, no chips on shoulders, just fun and lots of stories retold. Nobody cared that I was the token out homo -- all were just glad to see each other. We always were a very social class :-)


I wish the next one wasn't 5 years away!!

[IntenseCash.com]

Hey Chad I am glad it went well. I didn't like high school that much but went to my 10 year reunion and I was surprised to see how people matured and turned out. Everyone was really nice which was the complete opposite of high school, .

Mark