What's going on here? After years of relative quiet and lack of communication with former school and work mates, we've been deluged with communications about reunions. Maybe it's the Internet. It's much easier to find lost friends through the various people directories.
That's what happened recently when the phone rang and a voice my husband hadn't heard in over 20 years was on the other end of the line. He was rounding up members of the graduating class of his high school football team for a gathering in Florida. My husband, who was a "lost alumnus" up to that point, was tracked down by the son of the caller on Yahoo.
We signed up, as did all 20 other members of the team along with their significant others, and the reunion will soon take place in Florida.
Closer to home, an email from a former employer of mine brought news of a gathering of long-scattered coworkers. Once again, we were in intrigued with what had happened to everyone over the years. There was a good crowd at the party, and lots of stories to catch up on. Although almost 20 years had passed since we worked together, no one had aged so much as a day. In fact, one of my best friends looked better than ever. A couple years ago she decided to get in shape and now runs marathons.
There were sad moments, too. One of my husband's teammates and two of my former coworkers have passed on...much too young.
Every year, there are high school and college reunions, or gatherings like those above where friends come together to share their life experiences since moving on, and catch up on everyone else. My husband and I took a pass on all these gatherings until this year. Now, we've gone to one and plan to go to another. Is it because we're Grandboomers now, with a little more time to reflect, and we're starting to wonder what happened to many of our school and work friends? In both cases, we have a lot of happy memories of those times and we embraced the opportunity to bring them to the fore again.
Choosing to participate in a reunion is clearly a personal matter. Some people never want to see or hear from classmates and former coworkers again. Others relish the communication. Which leads us to wonder, is this a growing phenomenon in our age group?
If you've had a similar experience, let us know. Did you bother to go? Why or why not? And, if you did go, tell us about it.
© 2012 Created by Myles Bristowe.
