Recently, my high school graduating class held its 10 year reunion. On the one hand, I cannot believe it has been 10 years since I roamed the halls of Lake Mary High. Living in Utah, it was never even a consideration to go back to Florida for the reunion. But I did see some pictures taken at the party of some old friends. Even if I did go, I think I would have been uncomfortable though. I got this really weird feeling seeing those pictures. Even though I value most of my time since high school, I felt like I didn't have much to show for my time. While I have finally found a field that I enjoy, and can actually see myself doing, it has taken most of these last 10 years to figure that out. I'm sure that my experience has been markedly different over that time from my former classmates. I came out to BYU, and went on a mission representing my church. I didn't drink, or smoke, or experiment with drugs. I'm not saying that I think they all did, but I'm sure that many did. I don't know how much we could have related to each other. One thing I noticed in the pictures was that nearly everyone at the reunion had some kind of drink, and none of it looked like fruit punch. I would have been even more of an observer than I was back then. I don't want to sound like I feel like I am better than them because of my faith. I probably could learn a lot about being a good person from many of my old classmates. People that, at first blush, seem so different from me. The thing is, one night in a Florida hotel with 10 years removed from common experience is not the ideal venue for that.
Maybe, if given a more personal setting with my old friends I would have been able to enjoy myself, but large group settings have never been my thing, whether alcohol is being served or not.
1 comment:
Interesting. Mine is coming up in August, but I'm not going. I would, and I was looking forward to it, but they put it on a weekend that I am absolutely not available. As I have been looking at the website and stuff, I'm deciding more and more that I don't know that I really do want to go. I think I would be happy to see 10 people that I haven't seen since high school, and most of my friends I still keep in contact with, and then the rest I would have to pretend that I care how they are doing after all these years. That sounds so cold, I know, but I wasn't friends with them when I had to see them every day, why would I be friends with them now? I think if I went I would have a good time, though. We are all usually good for that.
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