Boomers Should Attend High School Reunions

Many times as we grow old and grumpy we’re tempted by attempts to reconnect us with our past. And, fearing that they’ll find us old, ugly and uninteresting, we avoid the like the plague. We stay home, carefully wrapped in our cozy warm lives, and tell ourselves we don’t need to see those old friends and acquaintances. But we do, we really do. Let me try and tell you why.

We’re grown up now. What people we knew in high school think of us now doesn’t really matter. We now have the ability to be our grown-up selves amongst them. We don’t need their approval. If they think we’re weird, it doesn’t matter, because chances are, we’re not going to see them again anyway.

High school reunions give you an opportunity to go outside your comfort zone and spend an evening with people who were special, and maybe not so special, in your life during high school. It’s a time to make amends and ask for forgiveness. It’s a time to ask that old high school girlfriend to dance.

That’s right! Get out there and shake your booty! Every woman will dance with you now, not a chance of getting turned down. And if you do get turned down, chances are someone new will ask you to dance. It’s all about opening yourself to your past, to the world, and to new experiences.

Nothing is more fun and liberating than dancing at these events.

Doing the Dirty Dog, the Frug, the Jerk, the Popeye, the Hitchhike -- and all those ancient dances that appeared on Hullabaloo, or American Bandstand. Let yourself go and you’ll be surprised how easy it becomes to overcome all the rigid high school taboos, and liberate yourself. In doing so, you’ll liberate others around you who’ll want to join in on the fun. They may be tied up in the high school rigidity they associate most of the high school attendees with. Seeing you making an ass of yourself will free them – and you’ll have done your good deed.

Every truly good semi-religious high school reunion experience comes with a caveat. Here are a few that have worked for me:

1. Don’t take your spouse. You’ll spend the evening worrying about whether they’re happy or bored, and they’ll pull you away from your main goal of totally connecting with your past – the people, the feelings and the memories.
   

2. Don’t drink too much. This is a chance to be the person you are now while facing the people you knew in your past. If you depend on alcohol you’ll miss out on half of what goes on and that defeats the whole purpose. Limit yourself to one drink, or two.
   

3. Don’t hold any grudges. This is a time for forgiveness, and just as you’d like others to forgive you for mistakes you made in your past, it’s equally important for you to forgive them. If they still hold a grudge against you. Forgive them and move on to better things.
   

4. Don’t rely on being with a group of friends you knew in high school. Staying with your old group is really fun and comfortable. But it’s also really limiting. This event may only last an evening. You’ve got to make the most of the time by allowing yourself to meet as many people as possible. You may and probably won’t ever see them again.
   

So if you have a chance to shake your booty at a high school reunion -- don’t let it go by. Don’t be shy. Take a chance on yourself and experience something outside your comfort zone. You may just have the time of your life.