25 Year High School Reunion

For reals.

Yep, I'm that old. Whatever. Get over it.

My 25 year high school reunion was this past Saturday night. It was...hmmm...how do I put it into words? Umm. Yeah, struggling here - and I'm rather good with words, honest. Let me say this, I think I could get an essay out of the night, maybe even a chapter in a yet-to-be-written-memoir. The evening obviously took a tremendous amount of work and planning (*waves at Kris G.*) and I really did enjoy seeing the people I went to grade school with - we all traveled onto high school together.

Two events stand out in my memory:

1. I'm walking through the room with the one person I've actually kept in touch with from high school - as in we get together once or twice a year and it is like no time has escaped (hi Carol Q.) and a woman stops her. I look at her face and recognize her as "one of the popular" girls from high school. She looks at me, ignores me completely and says to Carol, "Yay, Carol's here, now all the popular girls are here!"

Uh-huh. I swear. I literally shook my head at her and said, "Wow." And then went on my merry way. As I reapplied my lipstick in the bathroom I laughed out loud at that moment. I felt sorry for her because she is clearly stuck. Stuck in the past. Stuck in labels. Stuck in crap that just doesn't matter after high school.

Now that I write books for high school aged readers I also realized something else. Drama, labels, popular girls/boys and crap are what make up good YA. So I am thankful for all of those things.

2. The music at reunions suck. Now, I know I may be alone in this opinion, but I don't want to hear music from 1985. Why? Because it is twenty-freaking-five years old, and I'm sort of over it. Give me some Rhianna or LCD Soundsystem or even Usher. Something I really want to dance to. Cuz I can dance.

Okay so the words I'll use to describe last nights' experience:
Uncomfortable (at times)
Interesting (people watching)
Final (as in, never attending another HS reunion)

See...the makings of some good writing...