I had no idea that so many people had so much nonchalance toward high school reunions until I started planning my own. Maybe my school was just atypical, but I had been looking forward to a reunion ever since I graduated. At my school, we had always been a small but close-knit class. Even though we had your typical social groups, we were all pretty friendly toward one another. And in our community, almost all the kids traveled through the same school and had the same classes from kindergarten through senior year, so we all knew each other really well.
A few of my close friends even said that they didn’t want to go, but I twisted their arms, and dontcha know, they told me what a great time they had and were glad I talked them into coming. I was a little nervous myself, but I put on my positive pants and any fears melted away quickly.
With that being said, I want to spread the word about how great reunions can be, because once I started telling my new friends and co-workers about my reunion, almost all of them said they didn’t or wouldn’t go to their own.
9 Reasons You Should Attend Your Reunion
- In my experience at least, the “cool kids” won’t even come, and if they do, they’ll hang with their old crew anyway. At my own reunion, I found that every person that came wanted to be there and was genuinely interested in catching up. Even the ones I barely spoke to 11 years ago! In fact, some of the best conversations I had were with kids I wasn’t even close with back then.
- One of the reasons many people said a reunion isn’t worth it is because with Facebook, they already know what everyone’s up to. The thing is, Facebook leaves a lot out, and there’s a lot to be said for the social experience of face-to-face, in-person interaction. There’s just something about hearing your old classmates tell you about their lives now that you will never get from stalking them online. In a day and age where so much of our interactions are online, it’s worth it to get out of the house and have real conversations.
- It’s nostalgic. You have a shared common experience with this particular group of people, and that alone is pretty cool.
- Your old classmates will remind you of things you had long forgotten about, and a trip down memory lane is most always a good thing.
- It won’t be nearly as awkward as you think it will be. I worked it up in my mind (thanks, social anxiety!), but in reality, talking to everyone was really easy and natural. You just pick up where you left off 10 years ago. I wasn’t expecting that to happen, but it was such a pleasant surprise.
- Now you and your classmates can drink together. Legally.
- Old high school drama doesn’t matter anymore. As adults, you have so much more in common now. Place aside any old grudges and make the best of it. Even those you didn’t talk to at the time will still be fun to talk to now.
- You only have a few reunions in your life and you might as well go and see how fun it is. I can almost guarantee that you’ll have more fun than you think you will.
- If nothing else, think of it as a night out with your old friends. It’s an excuse to get prettied up and out of the house. If it ends up awkward, you can always bail, but you may go and be pleasantly surprised!
Side note: If you do go, please say thank you to the planning committee. Take it from me, putting those things together is hard and the organizers would really appreciate knowing that their time, effort and money was appreciated.
If you have a reunion coming up, I encourage you to take the leap and attend if your schedule allows.
Did you go to your reunion, or do you plan to?
Amanda Huggett 