Class Reunions- Yea or Nay?


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Have many of you gone to your high school reunions? What was your experience: positive, negative, or neutral? Was it worth travelling or paying to go to events? Did it differ between your 10th and your 20th+ ?

 

My class stinks. For the 10th, the ones who didn't get their way had a hissy fit and our class president ended up footing hundreds of dollars of the bill. Bad planning on her part, too, and obviously she wants nothing to do with the 20th next year. The way our reunion Facebook group is bickering about what to do and when, I don't think I'll take part, either.

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I went to my 40th a year ago.  It was held in San Diego.  I had THE BEST TIME EVER.  I don't begrudge the money that I spent to go one bit.  Just combined my vacation with the reunion.  We probably had 150 people that included some spouses show up.  It seriously was a total blast.

 

My high school has always had the best alumni association.   There is an activity at least once a month so reunions are huge things.  

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Reunion every year at the school on Founders Day. It's usually held on a Saturday. So we meet at a beach resort on Friday, stay overnight, and head out together to the school the next day and stay overnight again for more bonding time on Sunday.

We are a close-knit bunch. We have a classmate who now owns a T-shirt printing business. He provides the t-shirts for free that we wear to Founders Day every year. He even ships t-shirts to those who can't attend. We have another classmate who is a Zumba/hip hop/pop dance instructor. He choreographs our programme contribution and those who like to join gets to practice on Friday and present Saturday. We also have another classmate who owns the resort so we get Saturday free. And many of our batch live abroad, so they can't attend every year but they send money to contribute even when they don't attend.

So, every year, it always ends up that Saturday activities at the resort and at the school are free including food and drinks. Friday and Sunday are the only expenses and it's to each his own. So those who can't afford to spend money can at least join the Saturday festivities. Most years somebody volunteers to pick up the dinner tab at the table. Reunions are always well attended and even those living abroad make a special trip. I've made the trip halfway around the world every 5 years or so. Interestingly, we've only won the trophy for Alumni Attendance twice. Other batches are even more active at reunions than us.

What's awesome about this is that those who are consistently active in our batch ends up with another group of people who become part of their support system. For example, when my dad passed away, my classmate who works at the insurance company researched and processed my dad's insurance claims so my mom didn't have to worry about it. Another classmate competed in Iron Man and many of our batch attended the race to hold out water and give encouragement, etc.

Edited by anatess
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Guest MormonGator

High school was the worst time of my life and I wouldn't go back even if I was at gunpoint.  I would never go to a reunion. No regrets, I skipped my ten year, 15 year, and I will never go to a 20 or more. 

 

When people said to me "This is the best time of your life" I'd go home and literally weep. Thank God they were very, very wrong. 

Edited by MormonGator
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I mostly hung out with Seniors while I was a Junior, and with Juniors while I was a Senior. It's not that I didn't have any friends my own age, I knew a ton of people in my class including most of the football team, cheerleaders, drama group, volley ball team... you name it, but I never really had any good friends strictly from High school. The group from my ward growing up were very close, so those are really the only ones I would like to see. 

 

My wife and I dated in high school, she likes to go, I think. But I don't have a reason, other than to see my ward friends. 

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Went to 5th & 10th, skipped 25th and will probably skip the rest.  The reunions seem to be centered around "pub crawls", etc...  People who live in Utah don't know how blessed they are to live in an area where non-drinking lifestyles are the norm.

 

I don't know. The only ones who seem to push getting together from mine (in UT) all want to go drinking.  <_<

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At the last reunion a fairly large group of us went on a hike. I visited with many people [whom I knew of or about but had never associated with in school]. All of them were completely different (in a good way) than the impressions I had of them back when we were 17. I concluded that *we had all* grown for the better. Most of the petty aspects of our teenaged personalities had disappeared. I was glad that I went to the reunion.  :)

Edited by UT.starscoper
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High school was the worst time of my life and I wouldn't go back even if I was at gunpoint.  I would never go to a reunion. No regrets, I skipped my ten year, 15 year, and I will never go to a 20 or more. 

 

When people said to me "This is the best time of your life" I'd go home and literally weep. Thank God they were very, very wrong. 

I've always felt that telling people that high school is the "best time" of their lives ought to be a capital offence. 

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Guest MormonGator

I've always felt that telling people that high school is the "best time" of their lives ought to be a capital offence. 

 It used to really bother me but now I just feel sort of sorry for them. Really? If that's the best time of your life you are in for a miserable existence. Everything got better for me from college to the real world.  

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I haven't gone to all my class reunions, but the ones I have attended were awesome.  For the five year, most of my classmates had matured and the cliques seemed to have disappeared.  We were all just glad to see one another.  The ten year reunion was fairly unremarkable, but still enjoyed meeting and talking.  Then I was pregnant for my 15 and 20 year reunions--like ready to have the baby any day, so didn't dare travel out of town to attend.  Finally made it back for the 40 year reunion in 2013.  I was so glad I attended.  I was able to reconnect with a dear friend who had moved back East to live with relatives after graduation.  (His mother committed suicide on the night of our graduation, leaving a note saying now that her son was 18 he could care for the two younger siblings).  It was tragic.  Anyway, it was so good to see him, and give him a big hug.  The following Wednesday after the reunion, he had an embolism and died.  I would have regretted not seeing him one last time before his death.

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 It used to really bother me but now I just feel sort of sorry for them. Really? If that's the best time of your life you are in for a miserable existence. Everything got better for me from college to the real world.  

The problem is that I almost killed myself more than once because I listened to that tripe. If that was the best life got, I didn't want to even experience the rest. At a minimum it is willful endangerment. 

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The problem is that I almost killed myself more than once because I listened to that tripe. If that was the best life got, I didn't want to even experience the rest. At a minimum it is willful endangerment. 

 While I never did anything like that, I totally know where you are coming from. It was close for me too I engaged in self destructive behavior and it took me years to stop it.  

 

God bless you for trucking on through brother. Thank GOD you didn't do it. 

Edited by MormonGator
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I'm not going to say that high school was the best time of my life.  But it was one of the best times.  I've had many wonderful experiences since then.

 

My time serving in the military was perhaps one of the least happy times of my life - but some of those I served with are among the best I have known - I learned a lot and would not trade my experience but if given the choice - I would not do it again.  And if those I counted at the time as my enemies (including those in Vietnam - I served during the Vietnam conflict) were to contact me and wish to get together - I would do it in a heart beat.

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My time serving in the military was perhaps one of the least happy times of my life - but some of those I served with are among the best I have known - I learned a lot and would not trade my experience but if given the choice - I would not do it again. ...

I don't wish to challenge you, so don't misunderstand my intention. Do you feel like elaborating on what you mean when you say you learned alot?

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I've always felt that telling people that high school is the "best time" of their lives ought to be a capital offence.

I feel the same way. "It only goes down hill from here" and "these are the best years of your life, enjoy them" are snippets of things I was commonly told during my teenage years. Well intended but very misguided advice.

I too had an horrendous time during high school and I have little desire to attend any reunions they might have and no desire to ever again meet most of my fellow students from that time. Not that I have much of a choice anyway as I'm now living on a different continent which makes such things impractical.

I had to endure 5 years of it as well, as that's how long high school lasts in the UK.

All I can say is, my life improved dramatically since then. We finish high school at 16 in the UK. I'm 29 now and I've never looked back.

Edited by Mahone
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Guest MormonGator

I feel the same way. "It only goes down hill from here" and "these are the best years of your life, enjoy them" are snippets of things I was commonly told during my teenage years. Well intended but very misguided advice.

I too had an horrendous time during high school and I have little desire to attend any reunions they might have and no desire to ever again meet most of my fellow students from that time. Not that I have much of a choice anyway as I'm now living on a different continent which makes such things impractical.

I had to endure 5 years of it as well, as that's how long high school lasts in the UK.

All I can say is, my life improved dramatically since then. We finish high school at 16 in the UK. I'm 29 now and I've never looked back.

 From one Englishmen to another-AMEN! 

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