For Class of 2025, these are your people
Kerri Thoreson
In recent years, I invited my village of friends, many of whom are actual long-ago classmates of mine, to give sage advice to the new crop of high school graduates and it was an eclectic array of perspectives. One friend, Mary, said this, “Look around this room, across the aisle, in front of you, behind you, next to you. Be grateful for these people because this group, these friends, and foes, will be the ones you meet on the street to share a memory, will see at church, at reunions, on Facebook (or whatever social media becomes 30 years from now) and they are your people ... the ones who ground you and remind you of your roots ... nothing grows strong without healthy roots.”
No truer words have ever been said, which brings me to the subject of high school reunions. Most people have a love/hate feeling about reuniting a decade or three or four after you’ve said goodbye at graduation time. As someone who’s attended my 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 45th and 51st, here’s my perspective. The 10th and 20th are still a little high school-ish with people still wanting their classmates to see them as they were or an improved version of their high school selves. By the 30th and beyond, most are empty nesters and decidedly more comfortable in their own skin. A bonus to attending your reunions is meeting and getting to know people you went to school with, but maybe didn’t get to know well or at all.
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