I can honestly say that I can look back fondly on my high school years. They weren't perfect. They were full of their own kind of angst. And lord no, I would never wish to go back, but I don't look back and cringe (much) or cry or wish people dead. It was an era in my life just like any other - a mixture of good and bad. And don't you know, there's plenty to be mined for good story material. Silly as I am, I'm practical, too. Story material is a good thing.
Now I won't bore you with those details - that's what my reunion is for, but I will tell you that I was privileged to graduate high school smack in the middle of THE BEST nostalgic era since the 1950s. Oh yes, I graduated in 1984. Big hair, big shoulder pads, big music. Reagan, Dynasty, yuppies, skinny ties, John Hughes films. It was........memorable.
Did I ever tell you how I didn't want to go to college and my mother made me go? I was sooooo in love with my boyfriend and I wanted to stay in Rising Sun. But the Big R would have none of that. After an incident involving my father, a chainsaw, and a missing shoe, I scrapped my mother's plans for me to go to nursing school in Cincinnati, and chose instead to go to Ball State to become a teacher.
That plan didn't work out either, but it certainly set me on the path to where I am today. Believe it or not, my decision in 1987 to major in French is what got me my first job in association management and I'm still in the field today. Along the way, I have had great loves, met some of the most incredibly interesting people and have been afforded the opportunity to do things I could have never imagined back in 1984.
And still, I feel like there's so much I want to do.
But for this weekend, I'm going back. I'll see the people who knew me when my hair was dark, my skin was dewy and most of my life was still ahead of me. I can't wait to share the memories and to learn what they've been doing all these years. I'll be back next week with pictures and maybe a few stories that won't bore you too much. Maybe videos, too, Latka!
For now, a couple of songs from that time. ...
This one made me cry back when I was being pushed from the nest.....
And then this one which was best listened to as we drove around in Darla's Trans Am with the windows down and the T tops off.
Ah yes......now I wonder if that Mr. Boston Screwdriver mix is still in the back of the closet at The Big R's house?
I love going to my high school reunions and observing the physical changes in people but often they are still the nerd, the clown, the homecoming queen, etc. just with less hair and expanded mid sections. Have fun.
ReplyDeleteI went to an all guys catholic school in predominantly Irish South Buffalo. Our 25th was 5 years ago and I don't think I have laughed so hard since. It was as if someone pushed the pause button and everyone started right back in on each other. When the guy who was profiled on AMW 15 years ago for computer extortion won $500 in the split club and donated it back to the school another guy said Nice try Roman but we've still got the tape and $500 isn't going to make it go away. The entire room then erupted as the cafeteria used to and it took a good five minutes to catch a breath again. When I saw how many bald guys we had I pretty much decided to stick with the pony tail while I still have it. You'll have a blast.
ReplyDeleteYou're braver than I am. No way would I go to my high school reunion now. Maybe if I lost about 30 pounds and won the Powerball Jackpot, mabye.
ReplyDeleteYou'd have to drug me to get me to go to my high school reunion mainly because everyone else was a yokel and/or boring, but thumbs up to John Hughes flicks and old school VH. Don't kill anyone with a chainsaw.
ReplyDeleteThe reunion sounds like a blast -- have a great time!
ReplyDeleteHave fun, enjoy, hold the memories dear and close. It has been so long for me, 39 years since I graduated .. wow, hard to believe it has been that long.
ReplyDeleteStay safe. Looking forward to the pictures and the stories.
Oh bloody hell, that MUSIC :)
ReplyDeleteI would rather charge Hell, armed only with a bucket of water, than I would want to attend any school reunion.
ReplyDeleteI've avoided all reunions by skipping that all important senior year to go to college a year early. I'm on no graduating list so no notice. This saves me that need to say no to any invitations. I hated high school and hated all my classmates. Now I hate almost every person I actually know. Pretty soon I'll realize it is only myself I hate and I can dispense with all the other people to hate. Life is getting simple once again as my friends are all dying off and I have no desire to make new friends who will die. Cheery, no?
ReplyDeleteHave fun.
I'll be missing my belated one next month, but thanks to Facebook, I actually will miss it. Have fun at yours, don't drink too much, or flirt too much, or give your panties to a guy who asks to borrow them for five minutes (If you know this reference, you came of age in the 1980's).
ReplyDeleteHah you think the eighties were the best era.
ReplyDeleteI graduated in the sixties and that was the best time.
Or so I've been told I can't remember much myself.
Should be a good time for you to see old chums.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize you majored in French. My daughter is taking that in middle school (3rd yr)and as far as I can tell, she's saying rude things about me....but, oh, it sounds so nice. Damn, her!
Can't wait to hear all about it upon your return.
I won't tell you how old I was in 1984.
ReplyDeleteI will tell you I love all thos songs.
:)
Have fun!
We were tossed together because we lived in a certain school district - not the best way for finding like minded friends and companions. We mostly barely acknowledged each other - and when we graduated everyone scattered like ants when a can of Raid is brought into the room.
ReplyDeleteRevisiting those people - no way. That's one time warp best left to people who meet and greet and say, "Have a nice day".
I went to my 10 year, figured out nothing had changed, other than the really hot guys going bald and growing beer guts, so have skipped every one since then. May you have a good enough time at yours that it was worth the drive.
ReplyDeleteAll the comments from people who say, "Ugh! Would never go back!" are the way I was for years. Getting back in touch with quite a few folks with whom I grew up convinced me I was missing something important - I wasn't the only one who had reached the shores of early middle age! All those people I remember as the jock or the cheerleader who wouldn't talk to me, or whatever Type you can assign have also spent the past quarter century living, marrying, maybe divorcing, starting a career, a family, screwing up, being successful - and so I have been righteously humbled by the reality that we can all celebrate this particular milestone without any sense of self-consciousness. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteHave fun! I went to my 10th year and then my (gulp)30th year reunions. Interesting and fun - I have no regrets about going.
ReplyDeleteTime After Time was our wedding song... not because we were together when it came out, but because our relationship has such a long history, even if it took us 27 years to get married!
Those videos! The early days of MTV were the soundtrack of my adolescent life (just one year behind you in high school).
ReplyDeleteMy French teacher had a mad crush on David Lee Roth and talked about him all the time. Isn't it weird that I remember that . . . but not her name or how to conjugate French verbs?
I can't wait to hear your stories about the reunion!
Lisa planned to major in French. Mission accomplished, Mathman?
ReplyDeleteI'm a committed reunion abstainer - 1985 was my number of the beast, so I share your love of Pretty in 16 Pink Candles films et al. I moved to the other side of the continent and that keeps me at a comfortable distance from the ugly snobbery that I look back on my high school peers almost universally tainted with.
Geoffery K-S is probably right: these people may well have evolved into humans like the rest of the 41 year olds on this planet. But 24 years on, I just don't care anymore.
I was one year ahead of you! And you are so right, there is no era that compares to the 80s for nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteI've been to all mine - fat, gray, whatever. Still had fun. Hope you do, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you will have a great time. There were over 1000 in my graduating class, and we manage to get maybe 300 for reunions. My 40th is next year. Just behave yourself...of course you will.
ReplyDeletehope you have a great time
ReplyDeleteI'm a person who likes her space. No way I'm traveling 2000 miles one way for a 2#@#$@ reunion.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I did not like most of those people back then...... not thinking I would like them any better now.
I love that Cyndi Lauper song, and that video. It used to make me cry too. I was dismayed to see that shoulder pads are coming back.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have fun at your reunion! :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to any of my high school reunions yet--not sure I want to go through the awkward social conversations. :)
French?
ReplyDeleteYou are a brave woman. I'd rather jump out the window than go to my class reunion.
ReplyDeleteHave a blast!
SAw your pix on FB, reminded me of my 25th which was four years ago. It was fun, shocking, boring, weird, disappointing, inspiring and stale, all at once, just like highschool
ReplyDelete