On 20 Years
20 years ago, I graduated from high school. A few weeks ago, I had my 20th high school reunion.
How did 20 years pass so quickly? I can remember like it was just yesterday my equal parts excitement and anxiety over the next chapter in my life and what it would mean to the friendships I had worked so hard to forge over those previous years.
Once again, I was faced with equal parts excitement and anxiety - this time not over the next chapter, but rather over what it would be like seeing some of my fellow high schoolers again.
I have been incredibly lucky. There are a few people from my high school class (in fact, some from before that), that I remain in close contact with, seeing them as much as once a month,. There are more people that I've seen here and there over the years. Then, there are those that I haven't seen since our last reunion, five years ago. And still more, that I haven't seen since I left for college.
How have we changed? Well, we've aged (we are a lot closer to 40 than 20 now). We've lived our lives. We've grown. Many of us have children. Many of us lead incredibly successful lives. But, in that room, there was a sense of a common thread - a reconnection point - an understanding that perhaps we didn't always have when we were actually in high school. It was refreshing.
Obviously my life has changed a lot since those days. Although I don't believe that I am wholly the same person that I was 20 years ago, I do believe that the core is still there. And that is what I saw with the others. Yes, we've changed. We've all experienced different things and grown in different ways, but the core of who we were is still there.
In a lot of ways, we are lucky because it is easy to keep in contact with others. FaceBook allows us a little window into the lives of the people we once knew, so we can easily avoid awkward conversation by recalling some post or picture we recently saw. Maybe that was the reason that the night flowed so well. Or maybe the reason is that we all just wanted to know what was going on in everyone's life. We were curious, and goodnaturedly so. And maybe, all the pretenses of high school - the natural groups that form - finally disappeared 20 years later, and the lesson we all learned is that none of it matters anyway. These are just good people wanting to reconnect to the past - even just for one night.
How did 20 years pass so quickly? I can remember like it was just yesterday my equal parts excitement and anxiety over the next chapter in my life and what it would mean to the friendships I had worked so hard to forge over those previous years.
Once again, I was faced with equal parts excitement and anxiety - this time not over the next chapter, but rather over what it would be like seeing some of my fellow high schoolers again.
I have been incredibly lucky. There are a few people from my high school class (in fact, some from before that), that I remain in close contact with, seeing them as much as once a month,. There are more people that I've seen here and there over the years. Then, there are those that I haven't seen since our last reunion, five years ago. And still more, that I haven't seen since I left for college.
How have we changed? Well, we've aged (we are a lot closer to 40 than 20 now). We've lived our lives. We've grown. Many of us have children. Many of us lead incredibly successful lives. But, in that room, there was a sense of a common thread - a reconnection point - an understanding that perhaps we didn't always have when we were actually in high school. It was refreshing.
Obviously my life has changed a lot since those days. Although I don't believe that I am wholly the same person that I was 20 years ago, I do believe that the core is still there. And that is what I saw with the others. Yes, we've changed. We've all experienced different things and grown in different ways, but the core of who we were is still there.
In a lot of ways, we are lucky because it is easy to keep in contact with others. FaceBook allows us a little window into the lives of the people we once knew, so we can easily avoid awkward conversation by recalling some post or picture we recently saw. Maybe that was the reason that the night flowed so well. Or maybe the reason is that we all just wanted to know what was going on in everyone's life. We were curious, and goodnaturedly so. And maybe, all the pretenses of high school - the natural groups that form - finally disappeared 20 years later, and the lesson we all learned is that none of it matters anyway. These are just good people wanting to reconnect to the past - even just for one night.
My BFFs from 20 years ago (and still).
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