I have to tell you about this-- maybe the best thing that ever happened on my birthday (except for the time the tornado missed us by a hair). The evening of my birthday I had a meeting for planning my 50th class reunion. Now I am not a rahrah nor have I ever been. I had some hard feelings after graduation, did a lot better in college and pretty much wanted to forget high school. I never went back to a single reunion until I was over 60, and that was a birthday party for the whole class that I kind of got roped into.
So I am not all sweetness and light about my high school days but we do get along better now. I say it is because we are all older and wiser. My friend since we were 7, Ronnie Tunafish, sez that we get along better now because the snobs are all dead. I think the real answer is somewhere in between. Anyway, I didn't tell anyone about my birthday because I am 68 freaking years old. Beyond my family no one cares. BUT when I walked into the meeting my classmates sang Happy Birthday to me.
Now I had it on my voicemail all day, from grandkids in high pitched voices and a teen rapper, an instant message from Hong Kong and from a great nephew who, once programmed, could not stop singing his version of it, but hearing 20 or so of the kids--okay, now old people--that I grew up with, well, I had to fight the tears. It's a small town and some of these people I went to kindergarten with, some I played baseball and tennis against and under no circs were we all friendly even into our fifties. I looked around the room and saw the greasers and the soshes, the hippies and the jocks, the brains and the drop outs singing together for one classmate. A lot of us are gone now and we are closer.
Guys--this is golden advice from an old lady--let high school go. Memories are the best gifts--s6