10 Things You Realize At Your 10 Year High School Reunion

I was never enthusiastic about high school while I was actually in it. I pretty much hated it for the most part, besides being with friends and boyfriends. When it was over, I was glad, and I still am.  However I was looking forward to going to my 10 year high school reunion. I wanted to go mainly to see old friends and to catch up. It was a good turnout, although there were several people I really wanted to see that weren’t there but I suppose it’s better than nothing.

There were some things that occurred to me though, during the time I was there that evening, that really surprised me and stuck out in my mind.

1. The women look so much better than they did in high school.

I’m not even kidding. I think a lot of them back them, myself included, were still in that awkward “I have no idea what I’m doing with my personal style” phase when we were 18. Today they look amazing.

2. People are friendlier.

I noticed this right after graduation actually. Suddenly a lot of people I felt that didn’t care for me or even know who I was seemed really glad to talk to me. People at the reunion were warm and welcoming.

3. Some people look different, and some look exactly the same.

A lot of the men looked different with facial hair and dressed up. But they still all looked good. The women mostly looked the same to me, like they were still 18, only with better hair, makeup, and clothes.

4. Most of them seemed to either be married, have kids, or both.

I definitely felt like I was in the minority in this department, and I felt like I had a little less to say since I wasn’t sharing toddler pictures and physical/mental exhaustion stories, but this is completely how I have planned my life so I am not complaining one bit.

5. People have forgotten about a lot of things from high school. I mean, a lot.

The most heard phrases of the evening were something along the lines of, “I don’t know who anyone is….What’s his name?…I don’t remember that happening….Did he even go to school with us?” A few times it took me a minute to match names with faces.

6. Ten years does not seem like ten years.

It really doesn’t. Time flies. It feels like maybe five years has went by, but surely not ten.

7. There was a strange mixture of awkwardness and comfort in the air.

It’s hard to explain. Comfort was from finally getting to sit down with the same people I loved in high school and realizing they remember all the same memories I do. Awkward from wondering what I was going to talk about, trying not to say anything weird, embarrassing, or offensive, especially toward the end when we have all had a few drinks.

8. You’re never too old for gossip and drama.

Yep, there was a little bit of rehashing old rumors and events and some room for new ones during and after the reunion as well. I guess it’s part of what makes us human.

9. Some people have stayed in their clique, and some have just grown apart. 

Many people arrived with their significant others, and some of them arrived in groups of three and four of the same people they used to hang out with in high school. I pretty much hang out with no one from my old clique and only occasionally talk to them on facebook. I just don’t have much in common with them anymore.

10. The friends I had are still the friends I’d have again if I could do it all over.

Maybe I did know something when I was 14, and that was what kind of people I’d click well with. They all seemed like the same cool people I remember, and it was really good to see them again.