Let the past, stay the past

With my 20 year high school reunion just around the corner, it is no wonder that I am getting blasted with emails from former classmates asking me if this is really me, and if I am attending the reunion.

I answer with a resounding "HELL NO!"

First off, I hated high school to begin with, and now that one of my few close friends from those days has passed away, there is no one I have a strong desire to see. I have kept in touch with maybe three of friends from high school, and the rest - I don't know them, and don't really need to.

Second, what are high school reunions for? Well in my mind, they are for the jocks to relive the glory days, now that they have lost all of their hair and are working at Taco Bell. They are for the once "unpopular" people to show up in their rented Mercedes 350SLK's to try to show all of the "popular" girls what they supposedly missed out on. They are for all of the former beauty queens to show everyone pictures of their brilliant kids, and talk about why they divorced their first alcoholic husbands. Reunions are rediculous. Of course, even though a woman is married with a loving family, has a great job and everything going for her in the present, she will diet and tan, get her hair done, and try to impress a collection of people she hasn't seen or heard from in 20 years. What's the point?

Although I do miss my fallen friend, and the other close friends I grew up with, I do not miss high school, and I have nothing to prove to those people, and no desire to try to impress them. Nor do I have a desire to see most of them.

I remember hearing people saying things like, "I can't wait to show up at my reunion with my Porsche, two blondes on each arm, throwing cash at everyone I see...Blah Blah Blah" Just plain old insecurity.

While I am definitely not going myself, I don't want to give the impression that I think less of people who do attend reunions. Many people just go to see old friends, reminisce about simpler times, and for one night, go back in time. I am just not one of those people. Maybe it is my anti-social nature or just my cynicism, but I say let the past stay in the past!

Be Well.