High School Reunion Jitters

Anyone who has been to a class reunion knows there is a certain amount of anxiety associated with attending a reunion. As the reunion approaches your mind becomes flooded with thoughts. Will there be anyone there I know? What if my old boyfriend or girlfriend is there? What if nobody remembers me? What if I don't recognize classmates or remember their names? What if I run into someone I didn't get along with in school? I've put on weight. I've gone gray. I've lost my hair. I'm not that successful.

Relax! You are not alone in these thoughts. Everyone else is having the same exact thoughts and reunion jitters. Don't let these thoughts get in the way of attending your class reunion.

Bottomline is we have all changed. So what! You're not 17 anymore. The laws of gravity and time catch up with all of us eventually. Changes are an inevitable fact of life. Accept yourself for who you are. Be yourself. Celebrate life's changes. Relax and go and have a good time. Letting such negative thoughts impact your decision to attend may result in you missing out on a wonderful time.

Focus your thoughts instead on the positive aspects of attending. This is an opportunity to go out and have some fun once every 5 or 10 years, renew old friendships, catch up with each other's lives, to celebrate your youth and feel young again (if only for a moment), to reminisce about the good old days, to share time with old friends while we are still able to, to celebrate our changes. You will quickly find that people are not there to judge you but are there for the same reasons you are to have a great time and touch their past. It can be a wonderfully rejuvenating experience. When it is over we can take comfort in the fact that we have all changed, we've all gone down different paths in life but that we all still share a common bond and enjoy a good party.

Here's some tips to help you relax at your class reunion:
- Go with an attitude of having fun.
- Be yourself and be proud of who you are.
- Dress comfortably.
- Remember everyone will have changed. You're not alone.
- Hookup with a few close classmates beforehand and go to reunion together.
- It's perfectly ok to not remember somebody. Our memories all fade. That's why name tags were invented!

Revisiting Old Memories

by Julie Thurlow

Our 50^th Reunion is important

 

Some people faithfully attend school reunions…Others scoff and wonder if it isn’t a bit crazy to fly halfway across the country to see folks you have not seen since HS. Maybe we don’t care to …but we should.

My high school experience is best summed up as feeling excitement and fun but I also felt trepidation and awkwardness because I did not know anyone when I entered the halls of Sammamish High School….Against my misgivings my Mom and Dad thought it was a wonderful idea to move to Bellevue at the end of my 9^th grade year!!

I was very quiet and shy and it was hard for me to open up and show everyone really who I was and what I was thinking.  I have since found out that I can be a real extrovert.  But when I was in High School, I was unable to access that quality amid the agony of self-consciousness that was drowning me.

I don’t think I will ever forget going around to parties the week seniors were out of school… I was blown away that all these parties  was going on ..Naive!!!.  I remember walking in to one of the parties and some male classmate came up and planted a kiss on my lips… I was in such shock that I still couldn’t tell you who he  was!! J

Once a decade reunions have become  rare opportunity for a do-over.   I can mingle with people that I was once too shy too speak to The reunion was  a chance to spruce up outdated recollections and be the person I wanted everyone to know.

I went to my 10^th Reunion and had a great time seeing everyone but I left feeling it was kind of like being back in High School.  I guess everyone was feeling a bit insecure because everyone was into their same group as they had identified with in High School.  The cheerleaders, the athletes, the band kids,etc. I was a bit depressed over that.

Our 20 year Reunion was fun.Graduates were coming back to see that what bound us together was much more important than those small differences that separated us.  It was a fun night and worth doing again.

Our 50^th   Reunion is important!  I look forward to revisiting Newport Hills and driving down 116^th  to see the house I use to live in.  I also plan on driving the route that the bus took  to  deliver us to Sammamish … Most of all, I really look forward to seeing my classmates .  I plan on walking around talking to those students I was too afraid to talk to and who knows, maybe I will find out who that gentleman was who planted that kiss.

When we left high School we had no idea that what were about to embark on was going to be so complicated because there was no way to predict.  The concept of 50 years seems difficult to absorb.  But the experiences we’ve had are worth sharing and what a gift it is to come face to face with the tangible reminders of youth, which rekindle those priceless memories

For those of you that are saying maybe….Make it a yes!  I will see you at the reunion!

Go sign up today.

Our web address is: http://www.sammamish62.com

Julie Thurlow Brown