Should You Venture Back to Your High School Years?

With the amazing phenomenon around, "High School Musical," and with, "High School Musical 3:Senior Year," hitting the wide screen on October 24, my thoughts have turned to my own high school adventures and attending high school reunions.

Are people really interested in going back to high school days, remembering their youthful past or reaching out to old friends and classmates? Do you still wonder what the high school quarterback, the class clown, the head cheerleader, or the student deemed to be the most successful are up to today? Is the quarterback bald and paunchy, the cheerleader on her third husband, the class clown a high powered lawyer, and the most successful student in rehab? Will your friends be astonished at how your own life's turned out, or would they care less, or even heaven forbid not remember who you are?

"Classmates.com," is a social website geared to people desiring to reach out to their high school days. You can investigate what old classmates have been up to after signing up for membership, with a paid Gold membership allowing you full access to services. You can place your profile on the site, answer questions about your life post graduation and even upload your favorite photos. You can explore other member's profiles or contact other members via an online email service. Every school's graduation class has posted a list of members, including a few favorite teachers. "Classmates.com," can be used for college or university alumni, and military branches of service. It's an excellent and convenient method to reach out to your past. I signed up and have maintained contact with several members, and renewed several friendships.

Face to face reunions by way of high school reunions can be exciting to attend, but they also can turn out to be quite awkward. You'll find that classmates who were active in school social activities are the same ones who usually attend these functions. The first ten year reunion you'll approach with expectations based on school days in way of judging your former classmates. This may be the only time in your life where you'll feel self-conscious, as all eyes study your entrance. It's also one of the few times when appearance does matter, as you attempt to recognize old friends and gawk at classmates who've changed the most over ten years. Hence the recommended name tags.

Business credentials with business cards are freely handed out as if you were attending a convention, and wallet sized wedding photographs along with multiple baby photographs circle the tables. Conversations tend to wrap around memorable school moments, and you may find yourself talking to the same crowd you hung out with in school.

The question is whether friendships can initiate again based on an adult lifestyle with responsibilities. You may question why you ever enjoyed being with your specific group of friends, wondering if you've outgrown them all. After discussing school memories and present life adventures, you'll wonder if there's anything more to base a renewed friendship on. Can ten years alter your ideas and beliefs so much that high school classmates no longer fit in? Why would you want to renew old high school friendships, besides trying to hook up with a long lost romance?

When you think about the best time of your life, the time when you were the happiest, do your high school years suit the bill? My high school experience when I attended were carefree days, intense days of living on the edge, testing the limits, and surviving to laugh about it. High school was harmless pranks, football, marching bands, parties, and music. I lived in the, "Make love, not war." era, the hippie generation. Most of it is a wonderful time to remember. A classmate recently reminded me of a long forgotten memory, when, "Help Me Rhonda," by the Beach Boys, was playing on a speaker in the hallway by the cafeteria, and we started dancing and singing down the hallway. It's a memory which immediately flooded back as soon as I read it, imagining us as two fun loving seventeen year old girls.

"High School Musical," reminds me of my own high school days of auditioning for school musicals and the antics behind it. There were, "favorites," who always managed to get the lead singing roles and chorus members who wanted to break out. Whether you can have interests in theatre and still be considered macho was also a question. Your level of social activity was considered more important than academics at time. What is the importance of social activity in your life and your classmates today?

As years slip by and the 20^th and 30^th high school reunion approach in your life, I believe the need for people to relive their precious days of youth becomes more prominent. When it gets to attending your 40^th and 50^th reunion, it's a matter of stating we're still here. The names on the memorial list of departed classmates grow and you feel an awkward twinge, because important parts of your life have also faded away.

"High School Musical 3," is based on the fun, intense times of high school, days we just lived in the moment. Whether you attend a high school reunion or not, I'm sure you can't deny your high school years had an impact on your life which still exists to this day.

The End