Reunion Thoughts, part 1

This weekend I went to my 20th high school reunion. I had been back in town a couple of times since then, but hadn't seen many people since I left, so I was excited to go back. On Friday night, I spent most of my time talking to two people.

The first was Richard, who I used to run with in middle school and high school. He doesn't run much anymore, but he looks like he could jump out and start right back where he left off. I hadn't seen Richard since graduation, and though it was good to see him, it was tough, as he's going through a rough time.

I also talked to Tony, who I *have* seen since graduation, and we did plenty of laughing.

Some random thoughts on the Friday night mixer:

*I'm not into the bar scene. I was rather surprised at how many people were smoking (and living in Ohio, I'd forgotten that some places still allow smoking in public buildings). Not so pleasant.

*I was surprised at how many people I *didn't* know. There were some people who didn't look any different than they did in high school, but there were others who I didn't recognize at all. Some of my classmates looked old and tired. Some seemed like they've given up on life. Others were drinking to excess, which doesn't necessarily say anything about their daily lives but maybe more about the company.

*People often talk about the cliques and how "those people still don't talk to anyone who wasn't in their clique." It's not that simple & not that black and white. Of course they primarily talk to their "clique" - those are the people they *knew* and the ones they were looking forward to seeing. It's just like me spending my time with Richard and Tony. I wasn't trying to exclude everyone else; I just wanted to catch up with old friends.

*Facebook has been a great facilitator of relationships. I specifically looked for some of my FB "friends" at the reunion (and was disappointed that I didn't get to reconnect with several). It's nowhere near as good as face-to-face communication, but it beats no communication.