Nostalgia

I just found out that my high school reunion is taking place on Saturday, May 2. And I can't swing a trip back to St. Louis that weekend for a number of reasons including money, work commitments, and general ambivalence about seeing my former classmates.

I went to my five-year reunion, mostly because they held it over Thanksgiving and I was in town anyway and had nothing better to do. Also, I felt reasonably confident that I looked better than I did back in 1999, when I had bangs and was 10 lbs. heavier.

From Facebook, I have ascertained that my status as unmarried and childless puts me in the minority. Which means reunion would probably make me feel both liberated (HA HA, I can still sleep around!) and depressed (Shit. I can still sleep around).

It might be helpful to provide some context about where I went to high school and what I was like back then. Buckle your seatbelts, because we're blasting off to my WASPy suburban past!

Remember the prom?

I remember mine. All four of them. I was kind of a prom whore. Or maybe I was just into older guys -- prom is for juniors and seniors, but both my freshman and sophomore years, I was dating a junior (not the same one; see above whore reference).

I love how awkward my date and I look in the above photo. You can see the pain behind our eyes. And look at how we're holding hands. So awkward. Incidentally, this guy, Tim, is now a successful stunt man in L.A. He looks better now too. At our five-year reunion, which he could not attend, I tried to convince people that he had invented Netflix and was a millionaire.

Anyway, high school. I didn't love it -- my school, MICDS, was very blue-blood old school conservative. There was a strict dress code: guys in coats and ties, girls in skirts, dresses, or "nice" pants (i.e. no jeans). We also couldn't wear open-backed shoes (like flip-flops or clogs) or anything with spaghetti straps. Skirts had to be no more than 3" above the knee.

I flew under the social radar for most of high school -- I think most people thought of me as That Theatre Girl. I wasn't hated or gossiped about; I was inconsequential. I didn't drink or smoke pot and I got good grades. I was terrible at sports. I dated theatre geeks, mainly. Not guys who looked like this:

Is it pathetic to admit I still remember all these guys' names (Dustin, Henry, Kevin) and doubt if they would be able to pick me out of a line-up?

But high school wasn't all bad. I had some good friends, some great teachers, and senior year, I wrote poetry for the first time (well, not counting the poem I wrote about the rainforest in 5th grade or the haiku I penned after the untimely death of my cat, Misty).

So maybe I am a little bit sad that I won't get to stroll down memory lane on May 2. But on the flip side, at least now I don't have go on a crash diet or agonize over what to wear.