| | Just some thoughts from this past weekend. First of all, I am so glad that I ended up going to the reunion. I mistakenly thought that going to the 10 year was enough, but I have learned that the 20 year is really more enjoyable and more meaningful in many respects.
I'm still processing the whole ball of wax - so many people, so many memories that have come flooding back. It's been great to just revisit places, moments and events that have become buried in my past under the rubble of more recent life. It will take a while to really explore this gold mine of memories.
In the meantime, I just wanted to make a few random observations about what stood out (and the obligatory disclaimer that these are my personal observations)...
1. The 10 year was fun, but the 20 year was more meaningful. I think I learned that at 10 years out, most people aren't really that far removed from high school, both physically and emotionally (not in a bad way). I just noticed that everyone looked more or less the same at the 10 year as they did in high school and that many were only a few years removed from college so they were still in the process of finding a sense of direction and calling in life. Many were still not married and without children. However, the 20 year was much more like what the popular conception of a class reunion might be like - people having aged more noticeably, people settled into careers and callings, many more married friends, many more children to talk about. It was more meaningful from that standpoint to talk to old friends and acquaintances about life now. The "what are you up to?" question was more interesting at the 20 year than at the 10 year.
2. At the 20 year I felt that enough time had passed that high school had gone from an immediate body of memories to a more distant past. I was so surprised at how many times someone reminisced about something from our high school days and my response was, "wow, I don't remember that," or "wow, I totally forgot about that." At the 10 year, high school was still fairly fresh in our minds. It wasn't really that long ago, but this past weekend as I reminisced about high school, I got much more of the "those were the good, ol' days" feeling. In that sense, the 20 year reunion seems so much more enjoyable in terms of asking the question, "do you remember the time ___________?"
3. At the 20 year I also sensed that people were so much more relaxed. I think that the 10 year had more a sense of anxiety as people seemed very involved with how they looked, how they presented themselves. I guess at the 10 year everyone is feeling anxious to show that they've made it, done something significant with their lives. This past weekend, I sensed that everyone was just genuinely glad to see the other people in the room. People seemed much more focused on enjoying the chance to see an old friend rather than being preoccupied with how they were coming across.
4. I found that after 20 years I had become better equipped to really appreciate the friends, the moments, and the events that made up my high school years. Experience, life lessons, and wisdom don't come easy or cheap. You really don't get a good dose of both until you've lived a while on this earth. I was much more appreciative of the great experience I had at Berkner after 20 years of life. I guess like so many things in life, time has a way of softening the rough edges of life and even healing the occasional hurts. I think that the 20 year was much more about just genuinely enjoying the good times and really moving past the tough times. I guess I noticed this because despite the fact that high school can be such a traumatic time for teenagers, people at the reunion seemed markedly fixed on how good those years were. I don't take that as "rose-colored" retrospection, no, I take that as 20 years of life teaching us all to appreciate the good things, the blessings that we've been granted.
5. Last, but not least, I was so encouraged by the many friends who shared wonderful testimonies of God's grace in their lives. In high school, I will be the first to admit that my faith was still young and prone to many weak moments. I'm sure I was not the only one. I know this to be true because there were a fair share of friends who were a bit surprised that I ended up in ministry and missions. I don't blame them. I don't think I really lived in a way that would naturally encourage those sorts of predictions. Still, this is how great God is. There is no depth from which He cannot lift a life. I was very encouraged to hear similar stories and testimonies from many other friends. I did not go to the reunion expecting to be confronted so directly by God, but His fingerprints were quite evident at that event.
Thanks to all the friends that I ran into for the great time. My biggest regret about the reunion is that it seemed too small a time and place for us to really re-connect and reminisce. It was only after the actual reunion that so many more memories came flooding back. I found myself wishing there was more time to talk about meaningful memories. Most of all, I guess I really enjoyed getting a small opportunity to just dip a toe in the fountain of youth and enjoy being awash in a flood of memories.
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| | Posted 10/6/2008 1:54 PM - 19 Views - 2 eProps - 2 comments
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