This coming weekend is probably the busiest weekend of the year for high school reunions. You may even be holding onto an invitation to one!

You know where it is-in the top drawer…or tacked to the bulletin board. It’s been there for weeks…can’t bring yourself to toss it…or commit to going.

For the record: I was not a joiner, and definitely NOT one of those rah-rah, let’s-s-get-the-old-gang-together types.

I knew ‘of’ ‘ a lot of people back then, but there was no ‘old gang’ for me;  the first 20-something years after high school I had kept in touch with 2 people, sporadically at best.

Something happened at around year 25. For purely selfish reasons (walking in, I wanted to have people to talk to) I volunteered to help.

They wanted me to find people. &@ %#*!!!  I’m a decorator, put me in charge of flowers or something….but n-o-o-o-o-o.

OK, gave it a shot. First person I ‘found’ was Colleen. We had been in some classes back then, so I knew who she was.  Back then she was, well, tough. Tough, kind of angry, and not seeming to be headed in a good direction.

It’s a wonderful long story, but short story is that Colleen was now an ordained minister, head of an outreach mission. I was hooked. Reconnected with 2 friends, and brought in one of  my two originals, and we four ran a successful #30, and now planning #35 for next year.

Reunions have a way of bringing back the mindset of those awkward years in a nanosecond. They are not for everyone, and the room can get crowded in a hurry, all those hopes and dreams, old loves, past snubs and dramas under one roof…

But there are  good stories, ‘new’ people to meet, and interesting experiences to be had. 

As the years pass,  life sends us reminders of exactly how precious time is, and if we are lucky, the stupid stuff often falls away. If you have the opportunity, stop thinking about it and just GO!   (Even if just for the evening, it’s fun to be in a room full of other 18 year-olds again!!)