Monday, September 19, 2011

Remember the days of the old school yard?

(qiqsoft.com)


This year is my 25 year high school reunion.
I have had a friend chipping away at me for months to fly back to Tassie and attend.

I have hovered between being quite keen and curious 
or thinking that I'd rather be dropped into a vat of boiling oil.

Part of me can't get past the thought
that the night will turn into a cliche
from a movie or telly show.


(beat.bodog.eu)

All the beautiful people will have married other beautiful people
and have beautiful jobs and beautiful houses
and have beautiful children and
take beautiful holidays
and have beautiful bank account balances.

The dags, of course, will still be dags.

The jocks unquestionably will still be jocks.


(blog.vecci.org.au)

(I was in none of these groups.
I was stuck somewhere in-between these groups.
As one of the more-inclined-to-be-a-book-nerd-than-anything-else group,
I tried to fly beneath the radar where I could
and avoid being in the spotlight for any unwanted attention)

Another part of me can't get past the fantasy cliche,
also out of a movie,
where the beautiful people are no longer beautiful
and their lives are a mess.
The jocks have a middle-aged paunch and hair loss.
The dags have blossomed and live fabulous lives.
Then I waltz in
and the music stops
and all heads turn my way and wonder
"Who is that amazingly awesome person who just walked in?"

It is amazing how the thought of a reunion 25 years later brings back all the insecurities
of high school.

But you know what?
I will admit that at first I was thinking that I should try and lose a few kilograms for the occasion
and make sure that the grey hairs were under control
and that I should wear figure-shaping underwear.

But, as soon as I booked the air fares
and made the commitment to attend,
I actually started to think how good it would be to see some of those dear friends
that I shared some fabulous times with.
Other than that, it was a clean slate to meet up with some "strangers" of 25 years
and see what happens.

It became about catching up with friends
rather than trying to prove anything to the ghosts of high school.


(crewcutandnewt.com)

But you know that I will be wearing the figure shaping underwear too.

7 comments:

Tracy said...

Go the shape wear! I love mine. I bet you have a fabulous time.

CurlyPops said...

That is so freaky - I just found out that my 20 year re-union is this year!
I would love to go just to catch up with dear old friends, but I don't think I could deal with a million questions from everyone about what's happened - and I'd look the biggest loser in the room - single, no kids, can't breathe etc! Crap, there's no way I'm going!

posie blogs Jennie McClelland said...

Oh i love love LOVE school reunions, i've only been to the 10 year, which was fantastic. I had 3 little girls, i was still married to the same bloke as the 5 year reunion & considering we were an exclusive all girls school, we were an awesome friendly year (my sister, 3 years ahead, not so much).
Here was my run down . . . the beautiful people were all smoking, one was divorced, most of them remained unmarried (ok we were 27). The sporty girls were either butch or still in great shape, married or engaged, a couple were mummies. A lot of the boarders were still living in the country, some married to country boys living on farms, too sweet. The dags were still dags but lovely ones who could laugh at themselves from hihg school days & were loads of fun.
As you can probably guess i was in a mix of the groups too - super sporty, smart & social, so got invited to all the parties but was most likely to throw the huge parties (benefit of having older siblings).
The strangest thing was . . . i kept being cornered by the heartbroken girls who had already had miscarriages. They said they weren't sure how they felt about me being a mummy already, when they weren't, they were so open & honest. One had had a still born, OMG, it was so sad & somehow i was mother hen??!! So not how it was meant to be - i had 2 science degrees, i was going to invent CSI. Anyway, it was a blast.
Oh PM John Howard's daughter was in my year & she turned up with body guards, GOD that was funny.
I can't wait for the 20 year, how cool. OMG, how long have i been married already??
My husband has had his 20 year reunion, oh boy, his school, scary, a few in prison, a couple murdered, only one guy had more children than us, he had 6 daughters!!
GO, have a blast, turn up with your girlfriend & just have a blast from the past. Check you out, a vet, bunch of children, you left the island, you're a home town hero!! Love Posie

Sally said...

You've got that song stuck in my head now... who was it? Cat Stevens?

Have a good time @ the reunion. I'm not sure that I'd go to mine... not because I had a bad time, not because I'm not pleased with my life now, but... I don't know. Perhaps because they're all on facebook anyway!

Ange Moore said...

Suck-me-in-pants - an absolute must for any special occassion but especially for a school reunion!

Adriana said...

Hope you have a great night!

I recently had my 20yr reunion here in Hobart, and I must admit I was a bit nervous... I'd hoped to miraculously lose 10 kilos before the event, but unfortunately it didn't happen.

I actually had a really fun night though.
Everyone was pretty much the same as they always were...

Mary said...

Which is way better than no underwear at all.