20-Year High School Reunion - A unique social experience.

I am probably drawn to the odd situations in life more than the average person. I sort of thrive in uncomfortable situations, if that can somehow make sense. And even though I wouldn't necessarily call this an uncomfortable situation for me, it definitely felt like it was that sort of thing for many of the people that were there. I've thought of a few elements to this event that basically set it apart from just about any other situation in life:

• Many of the people there, despite having been friends in any capacity for more than twenty years, have not actually seen each other very much, in a normal type of social engagement, until now and have thus changed quite a bit since they last saw each other. Their personalities might be totally different or hardly different at all which, having a large group of people that once had a fairly identifiable and distinct identity which was quite familiar, now feels like a totally different thing altogether. It is a group dynamic that, while it looks fairly familiar, feels quite strange at times.

• Most of the people there are basically the same age(within a year or two, excluding significant others that tagged along) and, yet, are all at very different points in their lives. Some folks have children, ranging from newborn to adult, and established families. Some are still single, happily or otherwise. Some have done tremendous things with their careers while some are still struggling to make ends meet(and/or both), either of which might be totally the opposite to how things were during high school.

• All of us have definitely changed in appearance but the degrees of change have definitely been quite varied, as well. Some folks still look quite young, hardly different than their younger selves, while some look quite a bit older. And weight gain shrouds many of us in varying degrees, as age is often inclined to contribute.

• The mix of nostalgia with these totally new perspectives of each other is quite unusual in itself. Remembering things from our fairly deep past as well as learning about the newer and varied events in life since. This sort of thing does happen at things like weddings, funerals, and the like but it is a bit different when noting that these are people we basically spent our childhood with.

All in all I really enjoyed myself and was quite happy to see so many old friends. I really appreciate the reminders of my past and all interesting glimpses into the futures of people I spent so much time with as a young person. Here's to the first twenty and the next ten more!