40th High School Reunion

[Coach]

I'm attending my 40th high school reunion this weekend. This is very interesting. It's the first high school reunion I've gotten to. I just finished playing golf with seven guys I do not remember at all. Tonight it's the dinner/dance.

My folks moved out of town after my first year of college, so I haven't had much reason to come back. It's amazing how much the town has changed since I lived here. It is really amazing to see how old the seven classmates at the golf scramble are, and to realize that I'm just as old as they are.

Dinner will be interesting. A few of the girls I had crushes on should be there.

At this rate I won't make the 50th.

Coach

 

[TromboneAl]

I enjoyed my 30th, but it was so mind-blowing that I never went back for more.

 

[bbbamI]

Well Coach...I hope you have a wonderful time! Sure would be nice to see some pics from the event....

 

[haha]

I'm attending my 40th high school reunion this weekend. This is very interesting. It's the first high school reunion I've gotten to. I just finished playing golf with seven guys I do not remember at all. Tonight it's the dinner/dance.

My folks moved out of town after my first year of college, so I haven't had much reason to come back. It's amazing how much the town has changed since I lived here. It is really amazing to see how old the seven classmates at the golf scramble are, and to realize that I'm just as old as they are.

Dinner will be interesting. A few of the girls I had crushes on should be there.

At this rate I won't make the 50th.

Coach

What did Doonesbury say? A high school reunion is a get together of the formerly interesting with the formerly attractive?

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed mine. I wil definitely go back again.

Ha

 

[travelover]

I enjoyed my 30th, but it was so mind-blowing that I never went back for more.

Same here. I don't think I've ever been in a room with so many people that were all the same age yet looked so different. There was the big shot whose dad bought him a new GTO for his 16th birthday - looking 20 years older than everyone else. And the wimpy guy who still looked about 17.

 

[Sue J]

We were in high school together, hubby was the senior class president so we've been to the 10th, 20th and 30th reunions.

I'm always aware of how we are all looking like our parents did when we were in HS!

Random thoughts-

at the 10th -
Is she really pregnant with #6 and #7?
Is he off drugs yet?
Does she have a new nose?

at the 20th -
Are they still married?
I didn't know he/she had died! (too many instances of that)
I remember him! He's an astronaut now.

at the 30th -
Did you know so and so is retired already?
You're a grandmother? Congratulations!
I can't believe that she's in the bathroom, drunk and vomiting at this age. Grow up!

 

[Moemg]

I always thought they should sell videos of High School reunions . So instead of having the expense of travel , hotel room , reunion outfits and meals you could relive the reunion from the comfort of your recliner for $19.99 and not have to make small talk to people you have not seen in forty years .

 

[Goonie]

I went to my 15th and 20th HS reunions.

The 15th was a good time, as I sat with a bunch of old [-]agitators[/-] pals, and we talked and laughed for HOURS. We were among the first to show up, and the owners of the establishment that it was held at finally had to tell us to leave at about 2am. They had a really good local band that actually played every song from the 70's that we could come up with...and we put together a loooong list for them!!! Also, the dinner was fantastic, with a large variety of things to choose from.....and it was 'all you can eat' besides!!!

We all pretty much agreed that, although most folks had changed somewhat in appearance, most still had the same dispositions (for lack of a better word)....as in, the people who were nice, and fairly normal in school, were still nice , and fairly normal....and the jack@sses and b!tches were pretty much still jack@sses and b!tches. Although there were a few exceptions.....albeit, not many.

The 20th reunion was extremely BORING!!! I sat with almost the same bunch as at the 15th, and we still had a pretty good time. However, many of the nice, fairly normal folks didn't show up, but that was offset by the fact that many more of the jack@sses and b!tches did show up. Also, instead of a live band, they got someone's friend's kid as a "DJ"....he sucked big time!!! He refused to take any requests, and only played 80's and 90's music...including Rap crap. The food was mediocre at best, but mostly pretty bad.....most everything was either lukewarm or cold...except the fried chicken that was steaming hot.....but the greasiest I think I'd ever seen! We took a few bites, but ended up tossing almost all of it in the garbage.

My date and I stayed for a couple of hours, and then got the heck out of there, and went to a nice restaurant for a good dinner!!!

I skipped the 25th and 30th, but I'm planning on attending the 35th next year...IF they have it somewhere decent, with decent music, and where the food is good. If it doesn't meet those 3 prereqs....I won't bother going to that one, or any in the future. The main reason I've gone was to visit with friends and have a good time, but really I can do that anytime!

Besides, like an old friend of mine says, "I got over High School the moment they handed me my diploma!"

 

[clifp]

I went to my 10th, enjoyed it. I didn't get my invitation to my 20th until very late so didn't go. I think I'll go to my 25th or 30th.

 

[Lsbcal]

I always thought they should sell videos of High School reunions . So instead of having the expense of travel , hotel room , reunion outfits and meals you could relive the reunion from the comfort of your recliner for $19.99 and not have to make small talk to people you have not seen in forty years .

Well there is always this flick (with Netflix link): Romy and Michele's High School Reunion

I'd like to hear more from those who've attended theirs. I just cannot imagine going to mine and having a good time. But like to get vicarious pleasure (pain?) without the arrows in the back .

 

[CuppaJoe]

I'm attending my 40th high school reunion this weekend.... I just finished playing golf with seven guys I do not remember at all....

My folks moved out of town after my first year of college, so I haven't had much reason to come back....

I thought I had accidently opened the Funny Joke thread, "seven guys...." I had the opposite experience from you, Coach; I visited my home town regularly up until 2005. To borrow Khan's phrase, "I'd rather sell a kidney" than go to a class reunion but I still enjoy visiting people there who I have known continuously all these, um, more than 40 years since H.S. Many of them were not in my class, and oddly they don't look that different to me now but it is funny to say things like, "who would know that one day here we would be discussing our aches and pains."

Coach, can't wait to hear about the dance.

 

[Ronstar]

Just went to my 35th. BYOB with fried chicken and side dishes. Drank beer until 1am in the same pavilion with the same people where we had our 5th reunion. We had a great time.

 

[REWahoo]

HS reunions are a recurring subject around here. To avoid a a redundant redundancy and not repeat myself again I'll quote what I said in this reunion thread three years ago:

I went to my 10th HS reunion and did not enjoy myself at all. Everyone seemed to be saying “Look how well I’m doing...” It was so bad I could hardly get anyone to listen to all my accomplishments.

Didn’t return again until the 25th, and had so much fun I’ve attended every reunion since. My theory is by the time many people reach their 50’s they are at the ‘what you see is what you get’ stage, and no longer spend much time trying to impress others with what they’ve done in life. We seemed to focus on having a good time and [-]telling lies[/-] incorrectly recalling past events.

Now that I think about it, maybe that says more about me than it does about my classmates. But whatever, I’ve had a great time at each reunion and so have many others. We even have an informal annual get-together in the non-reunion years…it’s coming up this weekend.

And in a strange coincidence, this coming weekend is our annual get-together...

 

[TromboneAl]

At my 30th, the company that ran the reunion had loud music from the year of our graduation playing all the time. So there was no way to have a regular conversation with your old friends; we had to yell over the music.

 

[mickeyd]

As I do not wish to impress many old friends/enemies, I have never attended any reunion HS, U, Army unit, etc.

 

[W2R]

I haven't attended any reunions, but received the videos and photos from our 40th class reunion that were snail mailed to everyone in the class.

A lot of the people looked pretty much the same. Also, it appeared that those girls who fawned over the football players in high school were doing the same thing in the reunion videos and stills (despite marriages, kids, and grandkids). Ewww. It could have been staged as a joke, but I doubt it.

 

[bbbamI]

I've been to every one of my reunions. Maybe I'm nutz, but I had a wonderful time at each one...

 

[mews]

I didn't enjoy high school, can't remember anyone, and can't see spending time with people I don't know and don't care about.

ta,
mew

 

[Orchidflower]

I heard so much b.s. and downright lies told by some of the reunion attendees (i.e., "I'm with the CIA and jumping out of planes" when in reality the person is a clerk for the government and never did get their degree) at my high school over the years that I've never had a desire to subject myself to that. I let my spies attend and pass the gossip on to me afterward instead. However, I did get a kick at looking at photos of all those old, gray headed people.....uh...oh, yeah, I'm one of them now...drat!
As I remember I was deliriously happy to get out of high school and forgot about the place so soon as I graduated.
Now University...I feel totally opposite. I loved that experience.

 

[REWahoo]

Now University...I feel totally opposite. I loved that experience.

Where did you matriculate?

 

[Alan]

School reunions are not a big thing in England, but a few of the ladies organized one 3 years back. It was actually timed to be 40 years after we all started as it was a brand new school when we all started there at age 11. So I guess in USA terms it was a 33 year re-union with all the participants having an age of about 51. A lot turned up from all over England plus Holland, Germany, Austria and myself from the USA.

I had an absolutely fantastic time. I did enjoy my High School days - which has to help - and I've now re-connected with some of the folks and we visit occasionally when we are over on vacation.

 

[Lsbcal]

...(snip)...
As I remember I was deliriously happy to get out of high school and forgot about the place so soon as I graduated.
Now University...I feel totally opposite. I loved that experience.

I felt the same way and enjoyed college a lot. HS was way too clickish and I lettered in a sport early on (not football so no babes) but still felt left out. From what I've seen as a parent things haven't changed all that much. Many teens still connect on an extremely superficial level -- "hey Dude". No wonder they feel isolated. And a lot of us adults haven't graduated to the next level either.

 

[Gumby]

I attended the high school from which I graduated for just my senior year (my first three years were in another state), so I knew the members of my graduating class for all of nine months or so. I joined the Navy immediately after graduation, moved away and have not seen any of them since. I've never been to a reunion and probably never will.

 

[Khan]

Went to the 10 year HS reunion. Didn't go to 20 or 30. There was no 40.
Haven't been back to college.

 

[Coach]

The dinner/dance was a pretty good time. Decent food, and I ended up with an interesting enough group at the dinner table. I saw 5 people that I actually recognized. Most everybody looked about as old as I do. The exception was Deni Sue. She was gorgeous in high school and looks maybe 40 and terrific still. She's a Pilates instructor which no doubt helps a bunch. Music was provided by a band of classmates -- they played together 40 years ago too -- and wasn't half bad.

The cliques seemed to survive seamlessly over the decades. I had a nice visit with a couple of my fellow AV nerds.

The list of 20 or so classmates who won't ever make it to another reunion was pretty depressing. That's about 5% of the class -- and who knows how many of the lost classmates are dead too.

All in all, I have to admit I had a fairly good time. I might make the 50th after all.

Coach