Feeling old...

Yeah, common theme.  Just had my 63rd birthday yesterday.  But more importantly, my 45th High School Reunion is this month.  I had no intention of going because of gas and rental car prices.  A good friend forwarded me a screen shot from the organizers of the reunion.  It was a list of the classmates who have passed away since graduation.  I was saddened to see, out of a class of roughly 500, we've lost 37.  Specifically, in this case, the girl I asked to Prom who contacted me ten years later to explain the reason she told me no was that she couldn't afford a dress.  

Sometimes life isn't much fun.

Sounds like you got about 5 years on me and the realization that you can't go back for a do over really sucks some times.    My suggestion is go to the reunion. Money is not everything in life. I am hoping to time it right so the overdraft notice is delivered to my funeral. 

I hear ya.  Coming up on 62 myself.  No idea how many of my classmates are still kicking, since reunion organizers got so much negative feedback after our 20th that they vowed to not have another one.  I thought they did fine.  I'm not local anymore, so I don't have a clue.  I have one friend from that era that I keep in touch with.

I find it's always best to count your blessings.  Focus on the good things in your life. 

And I'd advise you to go to that reunion anyway.  It could be a great way to re-connect with some old friends, or get to know someone you never talked to in high school. 

Or at least be sure to get to your 50th!

I still live in my hometown and had over 700 people in my class - largest class ever and 80% of the dorks who still live here don't go to the reunions. Our 40th reunion had only about 200 people including any spouses or dates show up and because our class was also the coolest and has reunions every 5 years, about 100 showed up for the 45th. I suspect that only about 75 will show up for our 50th.

I was never into sports being the class runt instead hanging out with the chess club and band people but the sports nuts and cheerleaders where still talking about the big game and glory days.

Anyway, we sit with the not beautiful people and have fun getting to know students who where in your classes but that you never new their name or talked to. 

It's amazing how somebody will walk up to you and ask if you remember that time... and you will swear that that never happened and a few days later, your memory will come back.

Pub walks are popular nowadays. Go 

I'll have my 50th reunion in two years.  I went to a much smaller school (68 people in my graduating class) but percentage-wise we've lost about the same number of classmates.  Interestingly, I've found that as we get older the reunions are a lot more fun - the old cliques from high school between the jocks, the cool kids, the nerdy kids, etc. are long gone, and we all just get along and have a great time.

stroker said:

...the girl I asked to Prom who contacted me ten years later to explain the reason she told me no was that she couldn't afford a dress.  

 

And now I'm sad she's gone, too. The kind of person who would share that pain years later to put your heart to rest is a real loss.

I went to my 40th h.s. reunion, much to my own surprise, and found the same kind of spirit of acceptance/bygones/commonality that others have mentioned. I've actually tried to  spread that attitude to my "real" life since then, with varying degrees of success. I suspect there's an answer in there we all need to be reminded of, but it's hard when there are so many daily truths of what keeps us apart.

Sorry, feeling sentimental tonight.

Margie

We had a little bonfire at our last reunion...

My class has never had a class reunion. It's been over 25 years. I do think it would be a good time and I would certainly go. I'm not going to be in charge though, not being on Facebook doesn't help in keeping up with people!

Mine set up a 25th reunion and even had a web page where people could get together and share old stories and photos in advance of the event.   I went to the site after getting the invite and realized I didnt recognize any of the people and none of their stories were familiar.   The past is past, no need to look for anything there.

At age 62, I started to get active on a car forum, and decided to buy a miata and start autocross.

I'm still here, on my second miata, and lost count of how many autocross events I've been in. As for high school, I never looked back, see no reason for it now.

Coming up on 15 here. I didn't go to the 10 year - it was about a week after Angela's due date so I declined - but funnily enough, my little brother happened to be there since his work was having a holiday party at the same spot at the same time. 
 

I am 50/50 on if I'll go to the next one, assuming it is 20 or 25. Nobody that I don't want to see, 2-3 people that I want to see, but I could call them up and schedule a tee time or something if I really wanted to see them. 

In reply to stroker

      I passed 74 and am working on 3/4 of a century  

I never attend reunions. High school or college.  My high school years were a constant fight with the Vice principle.     I found out he got a bonus if all the kids had their picture taken at one company.  When I found that out I organized several like minded rebels to not have our picture taken.  
     Then for every lousy thing he did we retaliated.  His little  Nash metro car went up on the flag stand with the football team picking it up and putting it there. 
   He had to get two tow trucks to lift it off. 
   His regulation against long hair  had a full 20% of the boys in the school skip haircuts for graduation. The Beatles were popular then and he called that style Hippie hair cuts.  
      Besides I was still in the Navy when the 10 year came around. 

I don't know, maybe I'm weird, but I really don't worry about this stuff much.

I mean, there's not a hell of a lot I can do to alter the march of time.

Things are going to come into my life, things are going to go out of my life; it's inevitable.  Eventually one of those things is going to be me.

I came to terms with that a long time ago.  I just want to be reasonably happy and comfortable until then.

Worrying about the unchangeable fact of mortality isn't going to help me be those things.

The only thing I worry about is dying before both of my daughters are fully self-reliant which will be in about eight years...for me, growing older is comforting as it takes me closer to that objective.

Been a rough month here in my household as well. My cousin died at 41, only a couple months younger then me to a OD. It happens was sad but I can understand that. Then lost another one three days ago, she threw a clot at 42 years old and died in her sleep. Her 8 year old found her. 

Honestly sometimes not having attachments is easier. I can skip things like school reunions but anything family I make a effort to get to no matter the cost. 

My 25 is next year. No one recognized me at my 20, unless they already knew me as I currently am. I asked swmbo if she wanted to go- I got a resounding hell no. Guess that means I can't entertain myself by putting a clean shaven picture of me on the memorial table and making up stories about how I died. 

As an odd aside, I ran into the girl I asked to prom, and had said no to me as wekl. But she was already travelling with me...and living with me. Not quite the same (unfortunate) ending. 

I've never gone to any of my high school reunions. The 20th would have been during the pandemic in 2020. 

I don't worry about it too much, the people that actually matter I'm still in contact with. Just had a great a 2 hour long conversation with a friend I've known since pre-school. 

Try not to focus on the negative and think about all the positives you have in your life. (Trust me, it's hard for me to do as well.)

I spent the reunion money ($100) on four KYB shocks for my '66 Datsun Roadster (1990 money). 
 

My class quit having these after the 20th.

My graduating class of '67 had almost 900 kids, and that was after they built another school in my junior year and transferred a whole bunch of kids over there! Talk about baby boomers.....

My 55th is next month......I went to the 20th, seemed like nothing had changed, same friends talked only to each other and so on.......the only good thing was my current girlfriend (now my wife) went with me so I had someone to talk to and dance with.

Missed the 10th, 30th and 40th as I had moved to California.....for the 45th I was back in town - it was organized on FB at a local bar, supposed to be low key etc. I only expected about 20-30 people but over 150 showed up! We mobbed the place and I actually had a good time, talked with kids I never knew in school and so on, so that set the stage for the big 50. The 50 was a Big Deal, done at a local country club and so on, kids flew in from all over the country. Wife did not go so I sat with a mixed group of folks I did know and some I didn't and had a pretty fun time. By now most of the cliques had pretty much gone away - except for the girls - but I did get a hug from the prom queen who wouldn't have known I was alive in school!

The list of those we lost keeps getting bigger, so it makes us feel even closer to those that are still here, but if I'm alive for the 60 that will be the last one for me - at that point it's more about who's survived and I think it will be hard for it not to just be sad.

Here's a vid someone took with their cellphone, it still makes me smile to see faces I recognize, and yet some of this group have left us in the intervening years.....this was the pre-party at a bar the night before the big dance.

 SME 67 50th - YouTube

I'm 55 this year. I had 3 really good friends from school. The three of us have rented a house for next week on Lake Murray. We've been hanging out together for the better part of 40 years. Our wives even tolerate each other because they know we would go on vacation without them if they didn't. 

The rest of my HS crowd were mostly acquaintances and the few that were more than that are Facebook friends. We don't hang out. We laugh at each other's jokes and compliment each other's grandkids and or pets.

As much as I hated school, I have no interest in going to a reunion. 

My last formal reunion was my 50th in 2016. About 40 members of my 1966 class of around 225 showed up. We know of at least another 40 that have passed. So there wasn't strong interest. Since then the guy that organized all our reunions passed away. I doubt we'll have any more. But alas! Lately, I've been seeing an old teacher from high school at our local hangout Bill's. He's 91. His wife is in a nursing home nearby recovering from a broken hip, so he stops at Bill's for dinner after visiting her. He was my home room teacher in the 1963-64 school year, and he gave us a great lecture the day after JFK's assassination. I also had him for American Gov't in my Junior year, the following year. Great guy. A prick at the time, but I realize now he was just trying to give us all a kick in the butt to understand what life is all about. So this has been my latest reunion.

20th will be coming up. 10th was a bit of a flop with 50ish total (including +1s) out of a class of 400. Anyone who wanted to stay connected already was Facebook friends or otherwise followed each other digitally.  Still not a bad ideas to get together in person.

Funny enough the 10th was organized on Facebook. I heard from at least a few people they were looking at the responses and deciding on to go or not to go based on who had replied or not replied if they'd be there also. Very quick reminder of adolescent parties.

My old pastor from my church is 94 years old and sometimes I wonder how he feels about the majority of those around him that have gone on.  I mean he has few peers left - he still drives too.   

I live in retirement-ville, FL and it's fascinating to watch everybody. 

Our 94 year old neighbor had a busy social calendar till a few months before she passed. I volunteer with one of the smartest and most capable men I've ever met, and he's 81. There guys in their 50s/60's at the gym who are in way better shape than I am at 39. Yeah, they're all on Testosterone and Creatine, but they're definitely loving life. 

Life is what you make of it, maybe especially when there is more behind than ahead.