Some really industrious people I once knew have already started working, and I mean really hard, on plans for my 50th high school reunion. The fact that it’s still a year and one-half away just shows you how industrious these people really are. Or maybe the problem is that we work a lot slower these days than when we were younger.
Disclosure: I graduated from high school younger than almost anyone in my class. There’s a story there, but that’s for another time. I just want to keep the record clear that I’m not really old enough to be out of high school this long. I keep telling myself this daily.
Finding people is almost a full-time job. My class had over 500 grads so we’ve divided the list up by elementary schools to find the “lost” alums. It is really quite clever some of the paths we’ve used to find people, and for a fee, I’ll let reunion planners in on the secrets to our success.
Interesting point on this, even the best memory isn’t good on remembering who was in your elementary school class. It may be too late for you, but your kids will shout your praises if you’ll keep the PTA phone book for them when they get ready for reunionville. Janice’s wonderful mother, may she rest in peace, saw that wisdom when we were in 6th grade. It has been more valuable than anything ever and our elementary is kicking the others in the dust with our success.
However, women change their names, sometimes more than once, so even how they are listed as recently as in the wonderful 25-year reunion book may no longer be valid.
The biggest hurdle is that apparently darn few people have a landline anymore. Even when we locate a potential match, there isn’t even a phone number to use to verify whether we are right. Right now there are dozens “Dear _____” of almost every common name who are receiving postcards asking if he or she could be our classmate.
Really wonderful yearbook advisers for the future would earn a halo from reunion committee if putting a middle name in the annual was required, plus the attended elementary school. Actually, I can see how to make this a potential money-maker for these underappreciated people. Contact me for details.
But seriously — want to guess how many Robert Hendersons there are there in the U.S.? Answer: 4,028. We haven’t even begun to look under Bob or Bobby. How do you narrow that down if you don’t have a middle name? You don’t.
BTW Robert (Bob, Bobby), if you’re reading this, please reply. Your school is looking for you!
This leads me to make several observations about class reunions, that I learned three years ago when we had our 45th. I think we did that as a practice round.
- Start studying your yearbook weeks before the big event. You won’t have a clue who half of these people are, especially the guys who have a tendency to go bald. And paunchy. Girls have a tendency to go some color hair other than the gray we all know they are. After all, we do know how old everyone there is.
Note to former BHS students: don’t say I didn’t warn you that you would need an annual every year when it was time to order! I was right. No surprise there.
2. Don’t be shocked that people who never, ever said even hello to you during your three years at the old alma mater suddenly want to be your Facebook friend before the reunion. Lesson to be learned here is that once you friend this person she (or he) will bombard you with pictures of her dogs &/or grandchildren.
Note to all: No one, and I mean absolutely no one unless you went to school with some rock star or Oscar winner (and those people don’t go to reunions anyway) has a dog or grandchild that is as cute as yours.
3. These “big year” reunions tend to be a whole weekend full of action packed activities. After the first night, you really have said everything to everyone you knew well enough to say anything at all. Everyone who approaches you after that is just looking for a place to brag.
4. No matter how successful you are, there is a classmate that has you beat in triplicate and makes sure you know it.
5. Get on Facebook, or whatever its equivalent will be when you reach reunion age. Not only will it make finding you a snap, it will also give you a big, as in huge, idea if you really want to see any of these people face-to-face. You may find out everything you really care to know and a whole lot more from reading their posts.
6. It is inevitable that the one person you really wanted to see doesn’t bother to come, despite all the weeks spent to find him. Truthfully, I know how they feel.
I’m very ambivalent about attending this reunion. If it was happening this week I feel sure I wouldn’t bother. Those weren’t bad days, but they truly weren’t the best days of my life either. Reliving any part of them yet again has little appeal.
Writes of Passage 
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