Reunion Ruminations

10 years since High School. It seems like an astoundingly long time, yet no time at all. To be fair, I will have to do another one of these rants in October when I go to the reunion of the high school I actually graduated from, but my Dawson Creek reunion was like a test run. You know, to get the kinks out before the real thing.

I have probably just confused a large percentage of my reading audience, so I suppose I'll explain. I moved away from my home town between grades 10 and 11. Alright. Explanation over. I decided to go up to Dawson for that reunion anyway, because those are all the people I grew up with, rather than just the people I spent the last 2 years of high school with. I wanted to see how they'd turned out, too. Plus, as an underlying motive, I'm sure for anyone returning to their small home town after 12 years in the city, to show how interesting and hip and urban I turned out to be.

The Surprises:
You know, there weren't all that many of these. Of course, not everyone turned up, and maybe the people with the most shocking changes stayed home, but I don't think so. I was surprised at how many people had kids and how many kids they had, especially since the majority of my friends in Vancouver have waited until their 30's to even consider it. There isn't that much else to do in a small town, so I can see why it happens earlier, but I sure couldn't use my stock response of "I'm too young" when people asked after my offspring.

Another surprise was probably the number of people I vaguely remembered by face or name, but certainly couldn't remember their characteristics or personality. It has been 12 years since I've seen most of these people so I was really thankful for the name tags on the first evening. 'Hi... Debbie. Yeah, Debbie. How have you been? Do you still..?' (desperately hoping they'll fill in the blank). The changed last names of the women also threw me. Probably about half the women I know in the city changed their names, but it is just as common not to. I think everyone in my class other than me that was married had changed their last names, and were very confused by the fact that I was married but still had the same last name. I know small towns are more conservative, but it was like they couldn't even wrap their heads around the concept. Spooky!

There were a couple pleasant surprises as far as people went. One of the class braniacs who wasn't exactly known for her popularity or great personality had blossomed into an exciting, vibrant, artistic lesbian living in Vancouver. I hadn't expected any of those things. I was thinking more of a wealthy lawyer with a trophy Euro-trash husband. I also reconnected with a woman I'd been meaning to contact since we ran into one another at the video store about 5 years ago. Every year I would copy her number into my new day planner but wouldn't ever get around to actually calling her. Since I've been home, I've actually been in contact (not over the phone but by email - phones have become a scary device - and we even had breakfast together one morning with our significant others.

The Expected:
Many people hadn't changed in the slightest. The biggest bitch in the class was still as artificial and bitchy as ever. She hugged me. Eep! I later overheard her making a 'joke' accusing someone of having, gasp, a dildo. Apparently her humor never rose above junior high. A large part of me was really satisfied with this revelation. It may not be the most honourable reaction, but I felt really superior in how far I've come since I moved away. It totally diffused all that implied power she had to make our lives miserable in those awkward teen years, yet, the fact that I cared at all shows that she still wields a bit of that power. Perhaps I haven't come as far as I thought.

The events themselves were, as so many of these things are, pretty underwhelming. There was a casual gathering at the High School, which was weird. The school seemed so different, yet not at all different. Then there was a bowling night but I just sat in the lounge chatting instead of wearing rented bowling shoes without socks. Golf on Saturday morning was fun. I was grouped with a guy who I remember being a real goof in High School, yet he seemed to be one of the kinder-hearted goofs. Our group ended up having a really good time even though we weren't any good. At the big dinner we all drank and chatted, then ate, then waited for something to happen. There were some door prizes - Theovis and I both won pens from a local construction company: Whoopee! Photos were being taken so a group of us made a pyramid. As you can tell by the look on my face, it wasn't the most comfortable position ever (at least we decided against putting Theovis at the top as was originally planned).

Overall, I'd probably give it a 7/10 - not the funnest thing I've ever attended, but I saw some people I wanted to and there were enough good moments to have made it worthwhile to go.

P.S. Did you know to "ruminate" means to chew cud? Well, it does.