How can this be? Twenty years have flown by since high school graduation. Each year goes by more quickly than the last. I remember hearing old people say that when I was younger. I guess I have joined the ranks because it is so true! I can also remember when older people would be asked their age, and in their response, would pause – some longer than others – as if they were counting the years. Oh my! It has happened to me. My sister who is 18 months my junior had to remind me of my age when I accidentally lied – no really, it was an accident! And yes, I have admitted it now publicly that I am the older sister – she just loves being labeled the older sister – not really …must be my mature behavior that throws people off or her added wrinkles? 😉 Just kidding, sis…
Anyway – It happens. What happens? Life happens! And really – aren’t we glad it does?!

This past weekend we celebrated our 20-year class reunion. This made me think a little bit about reunions… What in the world are reunions for anyway? Why did reunions start in the first place? Reunions give us a chance to catch up. With the addition of social media to our lives, reunions may not hold the same purpose of “catching up” with classmates as it once did. Because of this and the busyness of life, we didn’t have the best turn out. Okay- not a good turn-out by any statistical means. But since we didn’t really need to catch up with everyone, reunions allow us a chance to reminisce and laugh. We had fun! The more years that go by, the more level the playing field from our first days of adulthood in high school.   According to Clarence Page in the Chicago Tribune, “Reunions have a therapeutic value” (2011, para 3). Reunions give us a chance to relive the good parts of high school.

Now a word of advice that someone should have told me years ago…if you take away one thing from senior year in high school– don’t run for a class officer position…. You get to plan the reunions! Actually, we have a good time planning the reunions, and have every five years since graduation. Here is our class officer picture… it has been our official pose since our senior year. We are missing our VP – she moved to England so I guess she has an excuse to avoid us. 🙂

And if you take away one thing from reunions and life – Don’t take yourself too seriously. It doesn’t matter what your name is, what your title is, or what your bank account looks like… Drop the stereotypes from high school and just be and enjoy each other’s company. How – you may ask? Laugh – not a little but a lot. This is the reason I look forward to class reunions. We laugh so hard we cry – literally. We reminisce on stories that we survived to tell from high school. Something different this time is that we started to share our medical stories at this last one – from needing pig cartilage for someone’s knee to a mechanical heart valve to hearing aids. Not sure how it happened exactly – but we all aged and became those old people we used to look at sympathetically as they were past their prime. But were they? Are they? We know – and no need to vote on it either – life’s prime is where you are now. Make it what you want and don’t forget to laugh. ~SV

Stay Calm & Lead On!
Profs Dr. C. & Dr. V.

Page, C. (2011). Why reunions matter so much. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08-31/news/ct-oped-0831-page-20110831_1_class-reunions-high-school-band