Why does anyone go to a reunion?
Recently, the Goulburn College of Advanced Education (Sturt University), previously Goulburn Teachers’ College and now Goulburn Police Academy had a reunion.
I need to ask…
Why do we put ourselves through this strange custom?
In my twilight years…am I prepared to remember all those feelings from such an insecure time?
Is it to prove something to others… or just to myself?
I needed to find out so I packed my bag and headed away for a weekend with some people I hadn’t seen for over 30 years. I know I’m a very different person to the young girl that first met them all a thousand years ago and as one should expect, I have a confidence now that was nowhere in sight when I was 18 years old… but still I wondered….
I was booked into The Astor Hotel for the weekend… an establishment I remembered well. This was the last hotel I was drinking in before my boyfriend and I rolled his car after drinking for 9 hours. Yes! I had been a lucky one… a survivor of pre drink/driving laws. Ironically, a sobering thought!
♪♫•*•.♥.•*•♫♪
We’ve come a long way together… Through the hard times and the good
I have to celebrate you baby…. I have to praise you, like I should
(♪♫•*•.Thanks Fat Boy Slim.•*•♫♪)
Hmmm… do we celebrate the bad or only the good times?
What made this time of my life so extraordinary and memorable were the sad and bad times that balanced those funny, partying, good times. The lows taught me so much more (don’t drink and drive) than the highs…. but at a reunion it seems to be only the smile times that are really invited to accompany us down memory lane.
Recently, my friend Lynne told someone that she was going to a reunion and their response was, “well, you’re lucky you still look good enough to be able to go to your reunion!”
Is that really how it is?
If I was bald and fat, would my confidence be enough to accompany me to my reunion?
No! As it was I needed to take a friend to hand me a stiff drink often. I’m pretty sure I’d be washing my hair or contemplating my navel…. but why is it so??
I asked the big red question often as I caught up with faces that were hard to recognise and some names that I just didn’t remember at all. Most often the reply was:
‘to catch up with old friends’
Translation: Whose hair line has receded or whose waistline has expanded the most?
General Female Concensus: Considering the 70’s was all about hair, hair and more hair and the guys had most of it way back then… the total opposite is true now! Age and hairdressers have been much kinder to the girls.
‘to see what everyone has done since we last got together’
Translation: Let’s compare life stories and see who has lost the plot General Female Concensus: Darn! Nobody!Interestingly, while my insecurities still bubbled just below the surface when chatting to some of those bigger personalities from yesteryear, at other times I was really
entertained and enchanted by some people I’d never known. I also caught up with some friends whose paths just don’t cross mine anymore and it was wonderful to hear stories about their families and work. There are some really interesting people just getting on with life and contributing to our world in so many positive and exciting ways. They’ll never be recognised by mass audiences because Paris and Brittany have that covered already… but I can just tell that there are families out there doing really well because of the contributions made by these genuine people.
After all the partying and the stories and the streamers were cleaned away, Lynne said, “maybe next time, if our friends that we lived with during those character developing years came along, then we’d reminisce and they’d help us remember more.” Would we?
I have my doubts…because it was the 70’s and I don’t think I originally kept the memories. I’m quite sure that I enjoyed it far too much the first time around… and I didn’t remember then… so why would I remember it now?
But, I bet the stories they’d tell me would be great! I’m now looking forward to my next reunion… confidently!
I took myself on a tour of all the places I had lived while a student in this freezing windy city.
