Reunions
I got a notice last week for my 30th high school reunion. (Please keep the age jokes to yourself…)
I’m not sure if I’m going to go. I live 5 hours worth of air travel away, and have important meetings already scheduled on the same day.
Beyond that, I’m not sure how I really feel about it. My life and interests are very different than they were then (Bay Area in the 70’s.) I haven’t kept in regular touch with any of my classmates, beyond a few email exchanges.
Somehow, class reunions seem almost obsolete in the age of Facebook, email, blogs, and Vonage. And the Internet, especially social networking sites, allow us to connect with people with whom we share common interests today, perhaps freeing us from the need to re-connect with people with whom our only connection is 30 years old, and now irrelevant.
Any thoughts?
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I’m only a sophomore in college, so I have no clue what high school reunions are like, but I would tend to disagree with the assertion that they are obsolete, especially for older age groups.
I’m not sure of the statistics here, but I’d guess that not many people around the age of 50 would be part of social networking sites like Facebook. Certainly not the majority. I think the older the age group, the less likely they are to consider high school reunions obsolete simply because they are less technologically inclined than the younger generations.
And finally, the most important reason that high school reunions aren’t obsolete is because there is just no substitute for face to face interaction.
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I agree with Austin. I have my 10 year coming up this fall, and although I stay in contact with many of those friends via the web, there is no substitute to hanging out with everyone all together.
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:10 pm
I’ve attended both my 10 and 20 year reunions as it’s like a ‘homecoming’ to see all the people that were part of my life in my formative years. Emails are okay (but can be manipulated somewhat), whereas the face to face interaction is (to quote) ‘priceless’.
Also, reunions provide the best incentive to get into shape!
Hey, is there anyway for us to post our ‘then’ and ‘now’ pictures within this post?
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Reunions are important and are not obsolete. What next, no family reunions? I will be coming up on my 30th in three years and was disappointed we didn’t have a 25 year reunion. It really is a blast getting together with the folks with whom you share such important history.
July 24th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
I just went to my 30th High School reunion a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed talking to everyone and finding out what they have been up to. I live far away also and had only kept in touch with a couple of people. It helps if you can contact someone ahead of time and go with them. That’s what I did and it helped ease the nervousness of walking into a room and searching for someone you know. Also I found that most people were very friendly and were long past caring about "who is popular and who married who etc…"
July 24th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
I,too,am coming up on my 30th reunion and live out of state. But, I have to say I’m looking forward to seeing people I haven’t seen in 30 years. Those were such formative years, shared with many people going through the same trials and tribulations of entering adulthood. I think it will be neat to see how different people are today as they were in 1977.