All Grown Up?

Graduating Class of 2013...5 years later
By Alicia Jaimes

As we pulled into the parking lot, I was filled with uncertainty.
This past month was my very first high school reunion and because of this, I wasn't sure how it was gonna go. Would everyone show up and it be like old times? Would no one show up to relive their heydays? Which one was I hoping for?

I've been digesting that evening since June 9.

As my date and I walked to our table, familiar faces looked back at me. We sat down, ordered some food and drinks, and began to awkwardly stare at one another.
“So...how’ve you been?” was pretty much the icebreaker of the evening.
After a few drinks, everyone became chatty and curious. It was then that I learned of the marriages, children and divorces that my peers have encountered. Naturally, this begged the question if I were engaged yet.
“No, no. We’re still in school,” we'd answer.

Aside from love lives was talk of college, careers, inevitable debt and even gossip of those who didn't attend. The evening was short and to the point.
Looking around the tables, memories flooded my eyes. The kid who I used to go over to play on the trampoline with is now an adult working and building a life for himself. The girls who I used to tell everything to in grade school now live all over and in the past five years, I had no idea how any of them were doing. It was weird to feel like friends and strangers at the same time.

All in all, twelve people showed up--two of them old friends of mine. Others either protested or couldn't care less about the reunion. After weeks thinking it over, I get their decision. Who needs to catch up with friends when social media has kept everyone up to date on each other? Who needs to catch up when nearly everyone still keeps in touch? Nearly everyone.  

At first, I thought the reunion was a bust. My current friends didn't show up, and really, neither did hardly anyone else. This was nothing like I imagined and yet I'm glad I went. Sure, in ways high school never truly leaves us, but I'm thankful to say that some of it does. It was fun catching up with people I never talked to in school and it was nice to know that the high school status quo fades with age.
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I can only hope that the desire to skip out on high school reunions will fade with age as well.

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