Hi all

I've been to high school reunions (Girls' High, so an all women reunion, left in 1972) and the picnic for families as well, and then last year we had the primary school reunion - boys and girls.

The first (10 year) High school one I was ambivalent about beforehand but enjoyed it, but I spent most of the time at the picnic talking to my sister - strange but she was the one I enjoyed talking to most, even though we live 20 miles apart we don't really see each other very often. What I did notice most was the increase in confidence - what Jeri said, "when the hormones and insecurities aren't in control". I was also amazed that there were people there with kids almost 10 years old - hell, they didn't waste any time!

The second High School one was a few years later. It was upstairs in a restaurant. I was getting jumpier by the minute the closer it came to going there and when I heard this huge roar of talking coming from up the stairs I nearly backed out and snuck home. I forced myself to go up the stairs and it was just like a family reunion. We all *knew* each other, didn't have to make small talk, we picked up on conversations from a few years ago, caught up on what had happened in the meantime. I wasn't the only one who nearly backed out, and everyone had a really great time. I enjoyed talking to the people I had liked at school but also talking to people I had not really spent much time with.

The primary school reunion was the best, though. We were younger when we got to know each other, a little less of the hormones - although they were kicking in with some of us - and even though my sister & I (in the same class) had always been painfully shy at school we made some good friends there. I particularly liked meeting up again with the guy who never talked to any of us, didn't seem to be doing well in class, was taller than the rest of us, overweight. He is a great looking guy with a beautiful wife, both lovely people, gentle, sincere, interesting, clever.

Try it, you'll probably like it. It's hard to describe the feeling. Sure there will be some people trying to play one-up-person-ship, but the majority have more similarities than differences, I found. Life experiences - value the similarities, value the differences. Life paths meeting and diverging, choices/decisions in life, parallel universes. Choose your own adventure.

Helen