Reunion



Group photo taken at the reunion. I'm sitting on the floor left of center in a black dress. I won't share how much trouble I had getting up from that position in that dress...





Last weekend, I headed to Rhode Island to spend some one-on-one time with my Mom to celebrate her birthday, and to attend my 30th High School Reunion (Classical High School in Providence). I had a wonderful time spending the evening with old friends and a bunch of folks I only really knew from yearbook pictures.




Senior Portrait, 1981

 Over the course of the last year, I have been connecting with a lot of my classmates on Facebook. Our class formed a Facebook group to share information about the reunion and to generate enthusiasm for the event.

I'll be honest - if it hadn't been for Facebook, I doubt I would have attended. I had a few good friends through high school, and knew a bunch of kids from elementary and middle school, but I was not, by any stretch of the imagination, what you would consider "popular". Not that I didn't want to be - maybe a little too much. If it's one piece of advice I'd like to pass on to my kids, it's to be happy with who you are, enjoy your friends, and don't worry about trying to fit in with the "in" crowd.

I was grateful to be able to have dinner with two of my very best friends from high school, Lynda and Dee (and Dee's husband, Brian). We had a chance to really get caught up before heading to the reunion. And it meant I didn't have to walk into the reunion alone, like walking into the school cafeteria and not being able to find anyone to sit and eat lunch with.

Thirty years later, I was worried that no one would talk to me.

The nice thing about reunion night was that I did spend a lot of time talking with a lot of people. I got caught up with friends I had spent time with in high school, and folks I had known in middle and even elementary school. And, wouldn't you know it, I talked with some of the "in" crowd, too! And they talked back! And more than once, I found myself wishing I could tell my 16-year-old, terribly insecure self, "Don't worry. You'll turn out OK..."

I appreciated the fact that, amid MDs and PhDs and attorneys and all the other interesting careers represented, I never once was made to feel that the work I do at home was less than respected.



Reunion Night 2011

  I wish I could spend time with many of these folks now. They're intelligent, interesting, funny, and a privilege to know. I'm looking forward to meeting up again with some old and new friends next time I'm in Rhode Island. And the next reunion is only five years away...