10 years

A few days ago I attended my 10 year reunion. It wasn't exactly what I expected. Then again my expectations are built on knowledge I have acquired by watching reunions depicted by hundreds of movies and TV shows rather than asking or talking to a flesh and blood human being who has attended one. There was not nearly as much lying to impress people or giant revelations and secrets revealed as I thought there would be. I think that the thing that really struck me was how similar the reunion was to some of the parties that happened more than 10 years ago.

Some things had changed. There were several people there who had exceeded my expectations. Several individuals that I predicted would be in prison or dead 10 years ago appeared to be doing very well. In many of those cases I am glad that I was wrong.

However, many things were exactly the way they were a decade ago. For the most part I talked to the same people I would have in high school. I bumped into a variety of people and traded information with them, but I spent the majority of my time trading stories and joking around with the same 5-6 people as I always have. Another thing I noticed is that the crew of people I was hanging out with was constantly laughing and appeared to be having the best time. While other groups of people were chatting quietly we were playing games and gambling on the outcome on the putting green while laughing until our stomachs hurt.

Overall, the reunion was much less spectacular than TV or movies would lead you to believe. However, I did have a great time. It gets increasingly difficult to get all of your old friends together in the same place at the same time as we all get older and this was a fantastic opportunity for that to happen and I am glad that I capitalized on it. The only downer was missing a couple of people that it would have been fantastic to see. With any luck I'll see them at the next reunion.