In The End, We Are All The Same.

I did go to the reunion after all. I figured that if nothing else I might get some new material for my next stand up comedy show. On my way to Little Falls I called my friend Nicole to make sure she was there and to feel out the situation. If Nicole wasn’t there, I would have skipped it for sure. I wanted to brace myself for the worst. Well, as it turns out she was there and she said it was relatively calm. Nicole and I were great friends in school, but we also moved in different circles. She was much, much more popular than I was. So her friends weren’t my friends at all. But, I did want to see her, so if nothing else, that would be worth the trip alone. She said was it was good, and it was. I ended up having a great time. Who would have thought?

Once inside I was shocked to find how everyone seemed so grown up and regular. There was no fighting, no snarky remarks being made, no drama over who did what, no separation of people into their usual cliques. Nothing. Just a room full of adults catching up about the years gone by. It was surreal for being so ordinary. People seemed genuinely interested in how others were doing, even if they had never been friends before. I spent most of the night talking to people that at our graduation had I been told I would eventually talk to, I would have died laughing. Honestly, it was like talking to distant relatives. You have a connection, but no real ties that bind. 99 percent of my friends were the class above or the class behind mine, so I had nothing to really talk about as far as the good old days, it was all just conversation about currents events in our lives. It was interesting to say the least to see how people ended up. We all have gone through the same things. Work, school, hopes, dreams, life and death.

The ten year reunion was a train wreck. Clearly enough years had not passed to let go of all the baggage and drama. But, at 15 years people finally grew up and just let it go. Unexpectedly it wasn’t really all that important anymore to see the class jock be fat and bald or to hear that the most popular girl of the class is now beyond miserable and broke and living a horrible life. In some strange way it helped me to go and see my former classmates again after all these years. I feel like a lot of the negativity of high school that I have been holding onto was let go of by the end of the night. What good has it done me? None. Just unnecessary stress in the end. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we are all life long friends or anything. That’s certainly not the case. I really have no intention of seeing them again until the next reunion. But, I don’t view them with such disgust and contempt as I once did. People and events are seen from a much different perspective now. The power they had to make me feel a certain way is gone. They are just people, really no different from me. No better, no worse. I guess everyone has matured, myself included.

Truth be told, I am kind of looking forward to the 20 year reunion. Thinking about it is weird. I will almost be 40. F-O-R-T-Y! I have 5 years to get skinny.

“Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” this was not. Real life is nothing like the movies. And that is ok.