Small Town Class Reunion: Reunions of Younger Years

Through the years, we had several reunions - five, ten, twenty, twenty-five, thirty years. It seemed those who came to these reunions came with an agenda, needing to prove something to our classmates. Some of the guys still wanted to prove they were the wild boys of high school and college days. The girls just wanted to prove they weren't fat and weren't wrinkled. We wanted to prove we weren't aging at all and whatever we were doing, we were doing well with our lives.

Some came all polished up in their "corporate look"; to show they were definitely on the upwardly mobile fast track to success. The women dressed up (after attempting crash diets to lose weight for the event), and some brought family photos to share. Our visiting was done girls with girls, guys with guys and not much inclusion of the poor spouses dragged along to the event.

All of us were hard at work in these days: working a job every day, raising our children, going through the teen years with our children, coping with aging parents, losing some of our children to accidents and health issues, dealing with the vagaries of the job market. Many who were suffering from these hardships simply didn't come to the reunion; they couldn't find the energy (or maybe the money) to be joyous or to let their suffering be seen. Those who came put a smile on over it and plunged onward.

Many had fallen victim to the times: 1 out of every 2 marriages was failing in our generation and our class did our part to develop that statistic. Some brought new spouses, some came alone, and some proudly announced their new single status. Others stayed away, not wanting to admit failure of any type. Others announced flamboyantly in the class newsletter about their alternative lifestyles. A few of our classmates had passed away and we remembered them fondly. A few had lost parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents. For the majority though, the loss of someone dearly loved was still an unknown experience. Those who had experienced loss yet still attended somehow swept it under the rug for the evening and shared the wonderful chance to touch base again with our younger days.

Many of us have changed jobs so many times we cannot remember all of them. Many times we've completely changed careers, not just once, but two times, sometimes three. We'd done what it took to survive and "keep the family fed". But at these reunions, all that was put aside, hidden, certainly not for open discussion.

These "early years" reunions were times to put aside our every day lives and pretend again we were still the "same old boy (or girl)" we always were, without a care in the world. We had bands or D J's, cocktails, contests for things like: number of children, longest married, shortest time married, distance traveled, and who was the first grandparent. These contests should have been a big flag for us but they weren't. We just danced on, putting on our best show, laughing, teasing, and remembering the good ole days.