Held September 19, 1991
Wizin's Canyon Club and Banquet Center,
Thousand Oaks, California
By the time of the 25th reunion, many on the old reunion committee were experienceing "burn out" (the 20th bash took a lot out of us!) so the group decided to use Pride Reunions to organize things. Because we got started late, the reunion was also late, missing the summer when many in the class could attend. Also, we discovered to our dismay that our intimate knowledge of everyone's moving habits made us volunteers far better at finding our own friends than this hired company. As a result only a few hundred were found (compared to 75% of the class for five years earlier) and only about 125 classmates attended the event. Even so, those who attended seemed to have a great time as we saw many for the first time since graduation.
To sum up the experience was like looking into a "truth mirror", painfully. We must admit that forty-one years old is a very awkward age!
We are all finally at that age where we have chosen our professional paths, or at least decided what paths we won't be travelling. Some regrets about not becoming an astronaut or sports legend? Sure. Yet there is also a pride that starts to show as we acknowldge our Youth is rapidly falling away, and we start to accelerate our steps on our paths to become truely productive members of society. On the other hand, it was good to see a few classmates who had decided not to grow up yet; they kept us all young-at-heart!
This was the first reunion where most of our children were now teenagers and the irony of an entire generation turning into our own parents as they were at our graduation was not lost upon us. Nobody yet admitted to being a grandparent but we're sure that magic moment is only a few years away for many in the room. Several classmates were divorced from the partners they brought to prior reunions and so we also experieced that momentary awkwardness of remembering stories previously told that were better off having been forgotten. Still other classmates have begun "second" families with their new spouses and are reliving the joys of parenthood with their pre-school offspring. We also detected (but never ackknowledged) that some of the hair color we remembered on some classmates was now growing darker than before, and many of the men were now quite definitley growing thinner on top than in the middle. The "Afros" and bushy beards of the tenth reunion were now but a fond memory.
In other words, going through this time machine was not only enjoyable, there was an almost comforting effect as we realised we wern't going through life alone. There was a roomful of people right in front of us, sharing the same journey, and they were eager to share a hug and remember a favorite teacher with you.
We look forward to seeing everyone again in five years and next time, we promise, we'll do the party ourselves next time!
