13 Conversations About No-Thing

It's a few days ago now, but what kid of writer would I be if I didn't write about my 15-Year High School Reunion? (A much less annoying and self-involved one?)

The reunion of Abington High's Class of 1994 is slightly noteworthy (to me, anyway) because it largely came about due to Facebook. Our class never had a ten-year gathering, and I think a lot of people probably figured that we may never have one. But thanks to the miracle of technology, and the nature of people to want to stalk those we used to know, several of us became Facebook friends over the last couple years, and someone along the line suggested a reunion. And so it came to pass.

Personally, I went back-and-forth over whetehr I even wanted to go. Although, if I am being honest with myself, I think I look better than I did 15 years ago (less acne, not as dorky), I do have less hair and even fewer actual accomplishments. Plus the fact that I have to children to talk about, I was afraid I would have very little to talk about with anyone. Two things won me over; the realization that no one I graduated with became President or famous in any way, and the open bar.

On a personal level, I enjoyed not only the open bar but the fact that at least some, dare I say most, people seemed to remember me with fondness, and as a funny person. I think those who knew me then would attest that I was pretty much a wiseass, and the only difference between then and now is that I am maybe less mean and slightly more sensitive to the feelings of others. other than that, I'm still trying to be the funny man, and it seems like that's how people remembered me. Not someone they would ever sleep with, but at least a guy who tried to make them laugh most of the time.

The best thing (besides the open bar) about the reunion, and I suppose all reunions, was that it was one of those "Shared Experience" things, where a large group of people are there at that exact same time and can lose themselves in the genius of the moment. It wasn't really about the time Mike Donaghey threw the book through the window (although, that was quite awesome). It was more about genuinely catching up with people that you don't get the opportunity to see anymore, but you lirterally spent every day with them for four years. In the end, it seems like it is the same conversation over and over again ("What are you doing?" and "Where do you live?"), but it's not just about "stalking" people or seeing who put on a few pounds, because most of them really do care where you live and what you are doing. And when you get closer to the end of the night, and the remaining people are a little looser and liquored up, it becomes less about what you do for work or what you've been doing over the last 15 years, and it becomes about what you are doing at that very moment: having fun with old friends.