Nostalgia Days

My 20th high school reunion was this past weekend. I attended the 10th, which was predictably awkward and all too reminiscent of high school itself.

This one was far better. The reunion was planned by our own people, not an outside firm. For the last six months we have had a website that included not only the basic information but also a message board and a member section that allowed each classmate to post personal information, photos and any other information they wanted to share with the class. The sense of anticipation for the event was heightened immeasurably by seeing what people have been up to, with a new addition almost every day.

The early opportunity for contact gave rise to an expansion of the event. On Friday, a bunch of people met at a San Francisco bar owned by one of our classmates, while another group of people met at a wine bar in Fremont owned by another classmate. The reunion itself was Saturday night at a hotel. The food was simple (Mexican) but good, the pictures, music and atmosphere were fun, and the fellowship was pleasant. The vibe was much more relaxed than the 10 year; people seemed genuinely happy to see each other. I did not personally speak to many more people than I usually spoke to back in high school, but there was something enjoyable about seeing familiar faces across the room ... just like twenty years ago.

I did get a chance to speak to just about everybody I had hoped to see. I even discovered that one of my friends from back then had also gone to all the same elementary schools that I had (it was complicated because of a school closure and a split campus); we even had the same first and second grade teacher. He might be the only person in the world that shares that particular history.

Almost better than the reunion was the family picnic the next day at a park less than a mile from my old house. The weather was great, and there was both a playground and full soccer field with nets for the kids to play on. Kelly was the oldest kid there and spent much of her time playing soccer. We eventually got several other kids to join ours as a small game broke out.

After it was all over, I found myself unexpectedly nostalgic. Part of it comes from being back in the Bay Area, but a lot of it is an odd longing for those days. I hadn't thought about it much previously, but as I get farther away from that time of my life, I gain an appreciation for it. High school was not the best time of my life (college was the pinnacle of my school days), but I see now with greater clarity that it was still a good time. Maybe it would have been fun to go to a real party or two (let's see, I missed ... oh, all of them), but I now see that for all the constant activity and uncertainty about the future, there was still the freedom of childhood underlying everything. Maybe I would have enjoyed spending more time with the kids who went to all the games, but that fact is I knew most of them anyway and called many of them friends.

In this age, now that we have reconnected, it is far easier to stay connected. A Facebook group has been created, which has led me to a junior high alumni group, an elementary school alumni group, and a "You know you grew up in Sunnyvale if ..." group. I've now heard a bunch of names that I haven't even thought of in decades. It all helps me appreciate that I grew up in a nice area, with good people around me. I can always say there were other things I wish I had done, people I could have known better, places I could have gone, but there is no regret. I have never idealized my high school years, but I am happy to revisit them now, more content than I expected I would be, and more eager to see these people more as the years go on.