15 Years

My 15 year class reunion was held a couple of weeks ago.  First off, OMG... I am that old!  Second, I actually did attend and I had a great time, a really great time!

My best friend and I actually had to talk ourselves into going.  We didn't go to our 10 year reunion and that didn't bother either of us.  I wouldn't say that my high school years were awful.  I was active in sports playing year round in soccer, softball, and basketball.  I was on the student council and the honor society, woo hoo.  But, I wouldn't say that my high school years were great either.  I had some close friends, friends from my teams, and just random people friends, but there was just something... lacking.?.  Or maybe I didn't feel like I truly fit in (big surprise?)

So why did I go?  At first I thought that there was no way I was going to go because of all that had happened with my husband.  I felt that reunions were places where everyone caught up on the last x amount of years of their lives, showed off, etc, etc, etc.  So I didn't want to subject myself to questions and give answers to people that, for the most part, I haven't seen in 15 years.  But, I decided to go for two reasons.  First one being that part of my healing process was to accept what has happened.  It is part of my life story and one that I am not ashamed of.  I am not ashamed of my husband or the life that we lived together for nearly as many years as I have been out of high school.  The second reason was that my best friend would be there with me.  She has been one of my main supports not only throughout the past year, but for the nearly 20 years I have known her.  

My graduating class had about 130 graduates.  There were only about 30-40 of us at the reunion and what a great group of people they were.  The conversations were casual, no one was "showing off" (like they do in the movies), and there were no probing questions.  I know that some people knew already that my husband had passed away (not sure if they knew how) and only 2 people made a comment to me about my husband because they knew I was married and they were both extremely shocked and sympathetic when I told them.  Neither of them asked any further questions.  

We had a great dinner and great conversations.  After dinner we went bar hopping, yup I did!  My best friend and I hit the dance floor and stayed there all night.  It was a hot, sticky night and there was no AC, so we were both a hot, sticky mess on the dance floor, but we didn't care.  We were tearing it up (or so we thought)!  And I had a awesome night!  Thank you DHS Class of '97! :)