126 days to go...

Well, here we are... It is really hard to believe that it has been 26 years since we all graduated from high school... or nearly graduated for some... In any event, some of the students of the year 1984 felt it was time to get together again... reunite, reminisce, refresh and review... our lives, our past, our hopes, our dreams... what WAS important then? Or what seemed so important?

I have never been to a reunion... for a variety of reasons... the first time, 10 years after high school, I wanted to go, however, I was 28 years old, pregnant with my first child and had a dilemma; should I attend my 10 year reunion, see people that may or may not have been important to me in high school and growing up? OR go to a good friends wedding, someone I would be friends with for the rest of my life? Obviously I did not choose the reunion... funny thing though, I never see that friend anymore either!

The 20th reunion came at a time of great change in my life. I had left my government job of 17 years... (left aka accepted a severance package after Black Thursday October 2003!) I had started a new business, Event Planning of all things... I had volunteered to help out with the reunion, being right down my alley and all, however, life had a few more curve balls for me and I didn't make it or help. I was in the midst of ending an 18 year relationship/marriage with the father of my children and was booked with a wedding to prepare for the weekend of the reunion.

I was disappointed, I wanted to go, but was not really in the right head space at the time to face people I hadn't seen or talked to for 20 years. I mean, I had just left a good job, a bad marriage and I was a single struggling mom of two... not much to brag about, eh?

Now here we are! 26 years later. Clearly a reunion had provoked interest, thanks to Marilyn Wong getting things started! (Yes I am only using maiden names for awhile, helps with the old memory process!) So THANK you Marilyn for starting a year of discussion. I wanted to help but was really pretty overwhelmed last year and didn't have a great deal of time.

So 26 years! We are doing it! The irony here is.... I am once again unemployed, about to move and in a "new" (5yr) relationship/marriage. Wow! Not much has changed since the 20th! Wait! It has! At the 20th I still harboured an internal struggle about who I should be and why. A conflict with Sarah about needing to be able to stand amongst the peers of my youth and say "Look what I did!" - "See I am not that invisible shy girl anymore!"

Nope! Doesn't matter! Guess what? That is not what life is about! Life is about love, happiness, pain, anger, sadness, trauma, loss, birth, renewal and so much more! I AM SO EXCITED about this reunion! I have touched base again with so many people that I had forgotten.. and when I say forgotten, I don't mean "OH! I haven't thought about you in years" I mean, wow, complete memory loss! The good thing is when you forget everything? There are - no expectations! It is all good! We are all amazing people - givers, survivors, parents, grandparents, pillars of the community, leaders, trail blazers and unique in our own way!

I had to laugh last weekend when a member of the committee, (who shall remain nameless :) said "A group of wall flowers was planning the reunion". Laughter, true, comfortable, silly, laughter surrounded the table. We now know... it is not about popularity, social status, money, or anything else that made us stand out... it is ME, YOU ... every person who walked those halls, every person who unknowingly influenced someone's life, those who stood tall and proud, those who were quiet and meek, those who were brilliant, those who's brilliance lay somewhere other than standard academics, those who gave and those who took... we are no longer those people. We are all adults who now watch our own children walk through the angst of childhood... who struggle with the passion of teens, who become parents - when we still don't feel mature enough to be parents... (let alone grandparents!) Don't know about you, but I AM NOT 43! I am permanently 30 in my head and thoughts - yup, I think I am cool, even if my teen helps tell me I am not!

Thank you all, for the way you shaped my life. I was a quiet, simple (not as in stupid :) girl, who thought that fitting in meant more than being an individual. I realize now that those who I thought had it all, had their own drama's, problem's, troubles.... We all learned, laughed and cried.... Hallowed be the halls of ADSS! I never thought I would walk them again, but I look forward to the one last tour of the hallways, on Saturday, July 17 at 11am... I think I will bring my kids with me... let them see where I spent so much time (Or little if you count skipping out of class!)

Please join us for memories, laughter, tears? Let's remember the good, the challenges and life lessons who made us who we are. Let's remember the teachers - those we wanted to be like and those we wanted to change. Let's remember those of the class 0f '84 who have passed on before us and celebrate those of us who are there.

Please share this blog with others. Not everyone is on Facebook and we are working hard as a committee to contact the class. If you can help or know of someone who is hard to find, tell us. Feel free to send me an email and/or post on the blog.

Have a great weekend! I will!