HIGH SCHOOL REUNION: It's Not That Awkward

Leading up to my ten-year high school reunion, I heard a lot of people mention, "it will be awkward." No specific reasons were given for the potential awkardicity. I would even ask, "Why will it be akward?"  I wouldn't be given a clear answer. I would be told random musings about how it's always strange to run into people from high school.

Here's the thing though: it's not. It's not awkward if you're a well-adjusted, socially adept person (of which--SPOILER ALERT--I am). Why do people feel running into people from their past is such a bad thing? Is it because the people from their past knew them when they were an immature, irresponsible goon? Or maybe because we spent so much time with our high school classmates growing up that they've seen us at our worst and most of them departed our lives before seeing us at our best? Or maybe because you spent your childhood talking to your former classmates about your dreams and your hopes for the future and are secretly worried they'll judge you if your life turned out differently?

Look, I'm not a professional wrestler. I'll admit it. It turns out I'm not 300 pounds of solid muscle, nor do I like taking steel chair shots to the head. Sometimes it's okay when life turns out a little differently than how you thought it would when your biggest concerns were listening to Blink-182's latest CD and mastering your Knights of the Round materia in Final Fantasy VII (that was officially the nerdiest reference this blog has made).

It doesn't have to be awkward though. If you take all the thoughts, all the regrets you had from high school, guess what...the person from high school you are talking to probably has similar regrets and similar thoughts. It's called growing up. You do dumb things (like get pulled over by the cops for barking at police dogs--which is a crime). You do mean things (like having your kid sister tell Brad Johnson that no one is at your house even though there are thirty cars outside and a pile of shoes at the front door). But you do those dumb and mean things and learn from them. That way, when you see the people you grew up with in ten years, you aren't arrested and haven't become an asshole. People understand this.

It's not awkward. It's just sort of life.