Anyone who has been to a class reunion knows there is a certain amount of anxiety associated with attending a reunion. As the reunion approaches your mind becomes flooded with thoughts. Will there be anyone there I know? What if my old boyfriend or girlfriend is there? What if nobody remembers me? What if I don't recognize classmates or remember their names? What if I run into someone I didn't get along with in school? I've put on weight. I've gone gray. I've lost my hair. I'm not that successful.
Relax! You are not alone in these thoughts. Everyone else is having the same exact thoughts and reunion jitters. Don't let these thoughts get in the way of attending your class reunion.
Bottomline is we have all changed. So what! You are not 17 anymore. The laws of gravity and time catch up with all of us eventually. Changes are an inevitable fact of life. Accept yourself for who you are. Be yourself. Celebrate life's changes. Relax and go and have a good time. Letting such negative thoughts impact your decision to attend may result in you missing out on a wonderful time.
Focus your thoughts instead on the positive aspects of attending. This is an opportunity to go out and have some fun, renew old friendships, catch up with each others lives, to celebrate your youth and feel young again (if only for a moment), to reminise about the good old days, to share time with old friends while we are still able to, to celebrate our changes. You will quickly find that people are not there to judge you but are there for the same reasons you are to have a great time and touch their past. It can be a wonderfully rejuvinating experience. When it is over we can take comfort in the fact that we have all changed, we've all gone down different paths in life but that we all still share a common bond and enjoy a good party.
Here's some tips to help you relax at the reunion:
- Go with an attitude of having fun.
- Be yourself and be proud of who you are.
- Dress comfortably.
- Remember everyone will have changed. You're not alone.
- Hookup with a few close classmates beforehand and go to reunion together.
Please Come To The Reunion
You'll laugh, cry, and reminisce with some of your old friends. Even if you had some negative experiences in school, don't fret about it, you'll most likely laugh about it now.
So come and enjoy an evening out of the house. Humor the reunion committee; we are a bunch of deluded die hards who hope everyone will show up. And finally, studies have shown that those who were initially hesitant about attending reunions, discover it was the event that they wouldn't have missed!
Top 10 Reasons To Attend Your 50th SPS Class of 1960 Reunion
10. You've not thought about getting into shape since the last reunion.
9. You want to try to dance one more time before your hip replacement.
8. You want to squash 50 years of rumors about you...and possibly start new and better ones.
7. The reunion committee will not stop contacting until you do show.
6. You don't have to ask for the keys to the family car or sneak out a window to be with your friends.
5. You can feel better knowing you're not the only who's been married, divorced, married, divorced...
4. To see what color the girls' hair is now and to see how many of the guys still have hair.
3. There will be no swimsuit competition.
2. You don't have to lie about your age. We know how old you are.
And the NUMBER ONE reason to attend your 50th class reunion is:
1. You can re-connect with old friends, make connections with new friends, and re-capture the joys of youth.
NO EXCUSES!
If you are NOT coming to the reunion, you need a good excuse and a note from your probation officer or whoever else keeps you out of trouble! The following reasons have been tried and are UNACCEPTABLE: I've gained a lot of weight! Look around!! I doubt any of us could get back into our jeans from school any more. (Just check out the webmaster's profile photos for proof.)
I'm a different person than I was in school. Lucky for you, we ALL are. Let's face it: we could only have improved. I don't want my spouse to know what a loser I was in school. They already know. They love you anyway. I don't look as good as I'd like. I (choose one or more) am bald, have wrinkles, saddlebags, grey hair and no one will recognize me. Guess what! You won't recognize anyone else, either. Our whole class looks like a "before" photo in a plastic surgery ad (Only kidding). I'm not successful. I'm not (choose one or more) a lawyer, a doctor or rich. You'll be pleasantly surprised to find how much everyone has matured. We may be plump and wrinkled (see Excuse #3, above) but we're not stupid. Money is not success. (Read the daily quotes on the homepage). You have found success when you are happy doing what you're doing! Please note that any doctors in the class are very welcome. Any lawyers will need to ask for special permission to attend. (Just joking)
I was not in a popular clique in school. Now that we're older and smarter, those cliques have dissolved just like the superficialities they were based on. The only cliques you'll notice at the reunion will be the sound of your joints as you walk around.
I'm 60+ and have not yet married, had kids, bought a house, written a book, sold my screenplay, ... (fill in your favorite personal disappointment here) You have been doing something during these past 50 years. Come and tell everyone about it.
I can't remember anyone's name. That's why God invented name tags and a cash bar.
Everyone from school hated me. Or, I haven't been in touch in 50 years, so if they didn't hate me then, they hate me now. And ignoring this problem will make it go away? Time to make amends. Show up at the reunion, make peace, and enjoy a special bonus - you won't spend the next 10 years being hated.
It seems like all the classmates drink alcohol at the reunion. Not all of us drink - plain and simple. Some of us only have a few drinks at the reunion to relax - because we're nervous - but if you don't want to drink alcohol there'll be plenty of other drinks available.
I can't go because I (or someone very close to me) is having a baby, lives more than 3,000 miles away, just declared bankruptcy.... OK, in those very special cases, you get a free get-out-of-reunion card, and we wish you well.
