Something called Facebook has seemed to diminish what I used to think was a monumental milestone of reunions. I think it's been nearly ten years since I made the last reunion and I recently thought, "Wow, I'll definitely have to make the twenty year reunion." With Facebook I feel like time really hasn't passed much and I still know quite a few of the "unique" idiosyncrasies of my classmates. In fact, I probably know more than I really wanted to learn.
A little background might be helpful to set the context of the pending activities. I went to a small christian grade school (SDA, Seventh Day Adventist) and stuck with that religious education all the way through high school. My class was never large and I think there were around forty-five kids in my graduating class, many which I had known since an early age. To say I grew up in an education-related cocoon would not be an understatement. In fact it smacks of so many interesting perspectives that I won't dive into them now; more interesting is the fact that many of my classmates went all-in and decided to continue their education at the same college (Walla Walla College). It's a double edge sword with this class population. Everybody knows you and you know everybody. And that's not always a good thing...
In earnest I haven't been around the Portland area much since graduating. Sure, my parents still spend about two-thirds of the year up there and the rest of their time at the Joshua Tree cabin and my sister has a sweet little tattoo business. Outside of my immediate two to three close friends I haven't kept in touch with anybody (...you can argue the merit Facebook brings to your friendships if you like...I'm on the fence). This seems to be the norm with me when it comes to my social circles. I know a lot of people, but I float from one circle of broad friends to another over time. Let's see, how many people do I keep close to from high school, college, raving, those first early career jobs, the startups, graduate school, teaching, golf, basketball and cycling? It's less than you would think; probably around ten to fifteen people in total. Diving into that function/dysfunction is newsworthy enough to blog about later.
So running into this small population of past classmates will be interesting. I'm diving into it solo; no wife or kids this weekend (they're getting ready for Disneyland while I'm away). So armed with a few recent photos and some old crazy high school stories that might dig up some interesting memories (yes wife, I'll do my best to use fake names to protect the innocence of the guilty and hide shame from their spouses) I'll see if I can make it through the weekend without missing a beat.
On a side note, I'm probably most excited to hang out tomorrow with my sister for the entire day. Just me, her, the convertible and plenty of coffee to keep us warm while we drive around the town dodging the rain with the top down!
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