Sunday, January 08, 2006
High School Reunion from Hell
High school was an especially painful part of my agonizingly protracted awkward age. For the first three years I was overweight and got great grades. Senior year I went to a diet doctor who gave me pills he couldn’t legally dispense today. Lost lots of weight, did finally get a social life, and got such awful grades that I was booted out of Honor Society (fortunately my college didn’t look at senior year grades…). Broke up with my boyfriend the afternoon of the senior prom. Convinced a gay buddy to be my escort.
Fast forward twenty years and my foray to a high school reunion I wasn’t going to go to until the last minute: My sixteen-year marriage had blown to hell, I had a crummy job selling shoes at Macy’s, but I looked great. Against my better judgment I went to (crashed) my reunion, in part to connect with an old friend who hated high school as much as I did. Connected instead with a very wrong guy, left the reunion with him, had the worst night of my life (too nasty to talk about) and pretty much lost my friend (deserved).
Fast forward many more years: Sour attitude to high school and reunions has fossilized into solid bedrock. I turned my feelings into a fantasy—Réunions Dangereuses, my Ellora’s Cave Quickie coming out Weds. (1/11).
Do you want to share your high school reunion experiences or fantasies here? Nasty ones very welcome. Okay, so if you have a nice cheery one, you can post it, too. Hey, I’m broadminded.
Curmudgeonly yours,
Mardi
http://MardiBallou.com
Fast forward twenty years and my foray to a high school reunion I wasn’t going to go to until the last minute: My sixteen-year marriage had blown to hell, I had a crummy job selling shoes at Macy’s, but I looked great. Against my better judgment I went to (crashed) my reunion, in part to connect with an old friend who hated high school as much as I did. Connected instead with a very wrong guy, left the reunion with him, had the worst night of my life (too nasty to talk about) and pretty much lost my friend (deserved).
Fast forward many more years: Sour attitude to high school and reunions has fossilized into solid bedrock. I turned my feelings into a fantasy—Réunions Dangereuses, my Ellora’s Cave Quickie coming out Weds. (1/11).
Do you want to share your high school reunion experiences or fantasies here? Nasty ones very welcome. Okay, so if you have a nice cheery one, you can post it, too. Hey, I’m broadminded.
Curmudgeonly yours,
Mardi
http://MardiBallou.com
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Okay, I'll start.
I've only been to one high school reunion, my twenty year one. I looked great and had a handsome husband on my arm. Nothing bad about that.
At one point one of the guys I knew in high school, somewhat tipsy, started in telling me how "us girls had given him such a hard time back then.'
I batted my eyes and said "I don't recall ever turning down a date with you. Truth is, you never asked me."
I was a girl-nerd back then, with thick glasses and clothes my dad approved of.
The guy shut up and didn't say another word about it.
*g*
Cheers,
Janet/Cricket
I've only been to one high school reunion, my twenty year one. I looked great and had a handsome husband on my arm. Nothing bad about that.
At one point one of the guys I knew in high school, somewhat tipsy, started in telling me how "us girls had given him such a hard time back then.'
I batted my eyes and said "I don't recall ever turning down a date with you. Truth is, you never asked me."
I was a girl-nerd back then, with thick glasses and clothes my dad approved of.
The guy shut up and didn't say another word about it.
*g*
Cheers,
Janet/Cricket
I hated high school. I was skinny and unhappy and a definite nerd. I dated a boy from another school and rarely went to games or anything, so never felt that much of a connection to any other students. There were over 1000 students in my graduating class, so it was easy to feel lost in the crowd. I've been to most of my reunions, and the funny thing is, so many people have come up and said how they'd been jealous of me because I was so popular! I think what it taught me is that our self-perception when we're young is often so poor, we don't see ourselves as others see us. In retrospect, I was no skinnier than a lot of other girls, I was a student body officer so SOMEONE had to vote for me, and active in a lot of clubs and such. Still, I hated my life, felt depressed and miserable most of the time, and few of my memories are happy. I will admit, though, to looking forward to a future review when I can go back as a multi-published author. Maybe THEN I'll finally have a little confidence around my old classmates!
I have yet to go to any high school reunions, partly because I went to high school in Connecticut, but mostly because I only keep in touch with one friend from high school. Despite my nerdiness, I did have a few friends. We were all grade grubbing overachievers who compared SAT scores and made up the top ten percent of my graduating class. I wasn't fat, but only because I had an eating disorder. My distinguishing characteristics (besides my grades) were my bra size (not so impressive these days, but it was larger than your average 16 year old's) and the fact that I could simultaneously read romance novels, and take perfect notes in every class. I do still have very fond memories of giving a presentation in my honor's french class about all the various genres of romance novels.
No reunions for me! Not even to rub their snotty noses in how happy I am today. I couldn't care less what those ghosts of the past think of me.
I make it a policy not to look back and rehash unpleasant experiences. The less I remember about high school, the better I feel.
Doreen
I make it a policy not to look back and rehash unpleasant experiences. The less I remember about high school, the better I feel.
Doreen
LOL, getting quite a wealth of opinions about high school reunions. Sounds like the person who had a positive experience back then is rarer than rubies. I agree about the wealth of characterization from all those people who hang around in our heads so many years after they've disappeared from our lives. Some of my teachers and profs have inspired some of the characters... some are waiting in the wings for future appearances.
Mardi -- I look forward to reading the fantasy version of your high school reunion. You know, if you ever decide to write chick lit, I think you have an interesting story for one in the real version. :-)
For me, I've never gone to a high school reunion. I wasn't much into high school and was so anxious to get out, I graduated a year early.
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For me, I've never gone to a high school reunion. I wasn't much into high school and was so anxious to get out, I graduated a year early.
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