Thursday, August 04, 2005

20 Years and Counting

This past weekend my high school class held its 20-year reunion. I didn't go. My class had 39 of us, which at the time was the largest class in school history. Three classmates were at my wedding, and there's a fourth I also keep in touch with, but at this point I'm not close to any of them. They all made it to reunion, but with having gone to Oregon the weekend before, plus the heat that is a Jacksonville summer night (why didn't they schedule it in January or February?!), plus the event taking place in a box suite at a minor league baseball game, I didn't feel like going.

It's weird, but I don't remember much about my high school years. I wasn't a particularly happy kid, so perhaps I've suppressed most of it. Would the boy of 20 years ago recognize me today?

I'm 40 pounds heavier, though that's because I was a beanstalk then.
I'm much less self-conscious and more emotionally secure.
I wear glasses full time now.
I'm liberal, just as he was -- only now, I know lots of other liberals.
I love beer -- back then I hated beer because I foolishly assumed it all tasted like Budweiser.
I'm no longer a virgin.
I'm still a goof.

The biggest difference is that I have such a greater understanding of who I am. Would that sort of thing be obvious to my younger self?

If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it'd be to invest in Microsoft.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been to the 10th and 30th high school reunion, and probably will not go to anymore. I was on the organizing committee for both and had a better time with the people I was organizing with than at the actual event. A lot of us are still local and we meet occasionally at different venues. My grad class was 500, and obviously I didn't know the vast majority of them then, so I don't really need to know them now!!

Anonymous said...

The day I learned beer didn't taste like Budweiser was a good day.

Anonymous said...

What HS did you go to? As I said in a previous comment I am a Sandalwood HS alumni. One sis went to Terry Parker HS. I haven't gone to any of the Sandalwood reunions...... don't think anyone would recogonize me now. LOL

aaron said...

Sugar, I went to a small private school in the area.