I think the things you will miss by not attending your high school reunion: renewing old friendships you may have forgotten about, making mew friendships that will mean a lot to you in the ensuring years, finding out how silly some of the past really was and feeling really proud of what you have become, as well as what others have become.
Yes, we have Facebook and maybe you know what people are up to. I get that, but that doesn't necessarily mean we know about each others lives (who knows maybe we don't really want to know but I doubt that). We see the status updates, the pictures and probably some opinions that annoy us but we don't necessarily know about each others lives.
Then again did we really know about each others lives when we were in high school. Probably not, just like now - we only saw what we wanted to see and didn't realize the struggles and ackwardness we may have felt. Can you suddenly hear Simple Minds singing "Don't You Forget About Me" and seeing various scenes from the The Breakfast Club by John Hughes? A hit movie in 1986 about a jock, an outcast, a brainy kid, a rebel, and Claire the princess whose world was perfect. They were forced to spend one Saturday in detention and learn a little bit about who they really were. Now I never spent detention on Saturday and I am thinking out of the 5 characters in the movie some people would say I feel into the rebel, brainy, or outcast category.
Going to Cypress High was definitely part of an escape for me from reality. My mom was diagnosed the spring of 8th grade with a brain tumor, and I was just trying to understand how my life had changed so much so quickly and how my parents tried to keep it as normal for me.
I remember learning to ski at Mt. Cypress, going on a backpacking trip as part of my backpacking class where I met the boy who would be my first real kiss. My step dad actually thought he was a good kid (little did he know he was a stoner) and right before the start of my sophomore year I was allowed to go out with him a couple of times - this was huge as I had just turned 14 in the spring and he was 17.
I was a hospital volunteer at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach all through high school - my mom spent most of the time there. So my circle of friends in the Class of 1986 at Cypress High were few as I didn't really want anyone to know about my home life as it was a downer. Most of my friends tended to be in the class of 1985 or 84; and others went to Savannah, Corona Del Mar, Edison, Newport Harbor, and Irvine.
So why do I look forward to our high school reunions? I look forward to seeing the people that I went from elementary school (Robert C Cawthon) to Lexington Junior High and then Cypress High. We shared notes, paper, pencils and eventually beers and wine coolers at parties and rides to places. I don't keep in regular touch but they were a part of me then that helped me become the person I am now and I want to see them and see how they are.
Our ten year reunion I will admit was probably more about proving about what we had accomplished and really, most of us were probably just starting our careers, marriages if you married and probably still having the need to prove who we were.
The twentieth I would say that we were a bit more comfortable with who we were, where we had been and had probably grown up a bit more. I know I found myself at restaurant at 4 am in the morning talking with a group of people I didn't hangout with outside of high school and having a great night.
I think on October 8th I will see that the Cypress High Class of 1986 has gained weight, gone balder, gray, married, divorced, married late or never married; had children, or not had children which has made them suffer, had ailments we thought we'd have when we were old (we are not old by the way); are taking care of an ailing parent; lost a parent; have been under employed; unemployed or are in employed in jobs we never dreamed of in our lives.
None of us have probably lived the life we dreamed or hoped to live. Some of us may be angry, disappointed or glad for that. However, I venture to say and hope that we are more humble and forgiving of ourselves or others; and more open to not knowing what the future holds and grateful that we are here living now. Mostly because some of our peers, siblings or parents are no longer with us and we realize that life is short.
As 30 years have passed since we walked out of the hallways from Cypress High, and I have been working with a wonderful group of women in planning our 30th high school reunion I have come to realize the following. We are more alike than we are different because we grew up together and embarked into our adult lives when we graduated from Cypress High together. I know I have enjoyed getting to know the committee members on a personal level this past year and I enjoy spending time socially outside of our meetings planning the reunion.
So, no matter where you are in life or when your reunion is I encourage you to take a chance to reconnect, renew and establish new friendships. Life is short and like a friend of mine who recently purchased her reunion ticket for her reunion at Western High said #YOLO!
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