I met one of the pretty girls from high school and she still looks good! She's in a job she hates though and seems a bit lonely and bummed out. Guess the stereotype of the pretty girl turning ugly wasn't true in this case.
What about you guys?
When I was at USNA in 1978-82, we seriously upheld the tradition of drinking like sailors. Alcohol responsibility hadn't really taken hold, and drug testing was still being discussed.
So when you were on liberty (especially at football games) it wasn't unusual to see staggering drunks puking on each other's shoes... and even worse behavior. Luckily handheld digital cameras didn't exist back then, and Polaroid film really doesn't survive well over the decades.
Today, as we approach our 30th reunion, several of those former midshipmen are flag officers-- hard to believe we're running the Navy. Another one of my classmates was just nominated for her third star.
When I was a midshipman, the homecoming reunions used to include a meal in the mid dining hall. It seats 4000 people in three very long wings, and the classes would be seated in chronological order. If you came in the correct entrance, you'd see alumni who weren't much older than you. As you walked along the wing, the diners got older... and older... and older. By the time you got to the other end you'd seen three generations of naval history.
I went to the fifth anniversary of my high-school reunion. The guy who'd been an obnoxious loud-mouthed drunk in high school had turned into... an obnoxious loud-mouthed college graduate. The ditzy mini-skirted boot-wearing high-school cheerleader had turned into... a ditzy leather-clad mini-skirted boot-wearing flight attendant & rock groupie. The fifth reunion was in 1983-- you've seen the pictures. The rest of us hadn't changed much either, but I haven't been back since.
My former high-school girlfriend was out here last year, and she's still a major babe. It freaked me out to see that her 17-year-old daughter is a carbon copy. (Of course it freaked
her out to have a 51-year-old tell her that she's a carbon copy of her mother as a teen.) My spouse put up with the whole visit but was generally not amused. Still a bit of history there.
I never got around to doing a USNA reunion, but now I can see a lot of my high-school & USNA classmates on Facebook. Assuming those are their actual photos, I apparently have joined clubs populated by balding fat guys. The loudmouth drunk is now a financial advisor (that can't possibly be his own hair). The ditzy leather-clad flight attendant has turned to show biz, but the cosmetic surgery is kinda scary. (For a few months, her Facebook profile photo was a 50-year-old woman wearing a leopard-print string bikini. I'm pretty sure it was mostly her.) Others seem to have aged very well, but we haven't kept in touch. My first contact in three decades was their Facebook friends request.
I've kept up with my friends, and the years seem to have been pretty kind to them. But if I haven't kept in touch with the rest of the class, then a reunion won't be much more fun. I'd just rather see my friends out here during their Hawaii vacations. Especially if they want to learn how to surf.
… and since I graduated in 1975, all of them are grandparents.
I'm only three years behind you, and I'm not ready to be a grandparent yet!