02 July, 2013

High School Reunions

It's been 47 years since I was graduated from high school - June 3, 1966. I attended reunions in 1976, 1986, and 1996. Since then I keep hearing about reunions, but none of them seem to be the officially sanctioned one - although there was one a year or so that came close.

I started at my high school as an 8th grader. It was a brand new school, and all we had was 8th and 9th grade. The next year we had 8th, 9th, and 10th - and so forth until all five years were attending. In a sense I was a junior for four years and a senior for one year. It was wonderful as we were the ones who established all of the traditions. After about a decade, the high school was moved to a larger state-of-the-art facility, and our building became a middle school. So we are/were the "Old Schoolers," but sadly our building has since been torn down.

There was another reunion about a week ago for us Old Schoolers. I wanted to go. There are people I want to see, but it is an investment. I live 600 miles away and didn't want to go unless the people I want to see are there. Only a few were scheduled to attend - so here I sat.

A blogging friend, however, recently explored some of the questions she was being asked by her reunion planners. I liked the result and thought I would give some of hers a whirl too.

1. How far will you travel one way to attend the reunion? Well, that's easy - 600 miles. They always give an award to the person who traveled the farthest. It's a rip off. I didn't expect to get it at my first reunion. They gave it to someone who traveled from the Philippines or South Africa or the southern tip of Chile. Somewhere - except they didn't really. Yeah - they had lived there but moved back to Virginia Beach the previous week. They didn't travel thousands of miles for the reunion, only a few blocks. As Rachel said, "Once a cheater, always a cheater."

2. How long have you been married? Not specific enough for a lot of my classmates. Are we talking cumulative here or longest marriage or most recent marriage? And what about civil unions - do they count for this? Is there an award? Should there be an award? Maybe it should be how many times have you been married? Or what percentage of your married years were happy?

3. Spouse, Boyfriend, Girlfriend (circle one) What ? Do you mean:  Preference? Ever? Tonight? I'm confused.

4. How many children do you have? Two, that I know of.

5. What is your occupation/employer? Professor of Psychology at Utica College with lots of former titles, but why not ask what you really want to know: How much do you make?

6. What are your hobbies and/or how do you spend your spare time? I spend a lot of time thinking of smart ass answers to stupid questionnaires.

7. Fondest High School Memory I'll pass on this one just in case the statute of limitations has yet to expire.

8. Worst High School Memory Ditto.

9. List 5 of your favorite musical groups (for DJ use). Today or then? I'll go with today since no one remembers any music of importance from the 60s. This one's easy. Zamfir, The Freecreditreport.com Band, Miley Cyrus, Insane Clown Posse, and a toss-up between the Bieber and the Jonas Brothers.

10. To plan for the amounts of beverages needed at the reunion, please tell us what you would like to drink and how much. Am I on Candid Camera?
TGB