High school reunions are often the subject of comedy, but they are not always scary experiences. Much of the difference between an embarrassing experience and one that makes you look forward to the next reunion is the planning that goes into the event. Of course, most people tend to remember the good times more than the negative ones as they get further in time from the high school years. Some other individuals require many years before they can bring themselves to attend. Keep in mind that high school is not a positive experience for many.
Often, after ten years or so, you start to wonder whether your classmates turned out differently than you expected. Curiosity brings many people to their class reunions. One of the first things that you can expect is that the school gymnasium and auditorium is much smaller than you remember. Of course, the classrooms are also smaller and the teachers usually seem shorter.
Although a ten year reunion is not as noticeable, you will probably see that your classmates have begun to look older too. Many of them look more and more like their parents. If you are attending a fifteen or twenty year reunion, chances are good that you will mistake classmates for their parents. Some of the people you remembered as cheerleaders and football stars are now grandparents.
You can expect to see lots of pictures from classmates. These might be pictures of happenings that involved you, or that you wish you had been involved in. If you were not interested in the activities that happened at the time, you may enjoy sharing pictures at the reunion. Depending upon the graduating year, the pictures might be photographs in albums, video tapes (remember those) or DVD images shared via websites, blogs and social media.
Food and drinks are expected at your class reunion. You might have a gourmet cook or two amongst your classmates who would love to show off their skills. Usually these events are catered so that everyone can participate in the socialization part. Drinks are another aspect of a reunion. Depending upon the distance in years from graduation, being able to enjoy alcoholic beverages with friends may be more important once it’s legal.
There will always be at least one person who will have too much to drink and become obnoxious. The social connections are sometimes a problem amongst attendees. If there are classmates who have married and are now divorced, it can lead to some uncomfortable moments. Of course, the parties to a divorce often look at reunions as an opportunity to show that they are doing fine without the ex-spouse.
Usually there will be a number of remembering type games and there may even be some awards, real and fake, given out. Who has the youngest child? Who has the most children? Who has been married the most times? Who has traveled the most distance from the home town? These can be fun as long as they don’t get too personal.
You can expect most high school reunions will break up much later than was planned with many promises to do it all over again the following year. This rarely happens – because most high school reunions are held every 10 years, so you’ve got a while before you have to go through it all again.
Additional resource links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_School_Reunion_%28TV_series%29
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