10.19.2007

Talk about different paths

A few years ago I got an invitation to my high school reunion. I think it was for my 10th year. It's been a while and I've successfully blocked it from my memory. Suffice it to say, I did not go. Tickets ran a ridiculous amount of money per person. In truth, anyone I wanted to catch up with I already spoke to on a regular to semi-regular basis. Getting together with them did not have to cost me $100/couple and a new dress.

This weekend my brother got married. His bride was a member of my graduating class. We didn't talk much in high school because we traveled in different circles then. Some things don't change.

Two of the other bridesmaids were also classmates of mine. And again, at the time, not people I knew more than recognizing their faces as ones I passed in the hallway. Having spent time with one of them this weekend, I realize I missed out in knowing her back then. While we do have some differences, she's certainly a person I could see myself being friends with.

The other, however, has changed much since High School - at least from the perception most had have her. Sadly, none of it is for the better. In a way two of those women were frozen in time - there they were, dressed up in gowns, DJ blasting some good fashioned 80s rock and it was 1991 all over again. It was senior prom where "those" kids showed up already drunk because they didn't know how to let loose and have fun without it.

I sat watching the dance floor at one point that night and marveled how people can start a leg of life's race from the same starting line and end up in such disparate places.

2 comments:

... Paige said...

Yeah, I know what ya mean. Funny time doesn't alway improve with age.

carmilevy said...

Our graduating year has been flinging messages through the Facebook universe, trying to drum up support for a reunion sometime next year.

I think I'll pass for pretty much the same reasons you outlined so clearly here: anyone who mattered to me from that era of my life is still in my life. Anyone who didn't matter is way off the radar screen, and I have no intention of incurring any expense of inconvenience just for the so-called thrill of watching these people go through the motions of their lives.

Some things are best left in the past.