10 Year High School Reunion

Here it is. One of my first official "where has the time gone?" adult moments.

This Saturday is my 10 Year High School Reunion in St. Louis.

Lately, I have been thinking about how much different a 10 year reunion would have been 10 years ago. Not just because I was still IN High School with no reason yet to re-unite, but because back then there was no myspace, facebook, twitter, linkedin, blogger, flickr... you get the idea.

Back in 1999, when you went to your first HS reunion you probably knew the whereabouts and whatnots of your slightly extended circle of friends but would be truly surprised about the rest of the characters that you were about to run into again.

But let's fast forward to 2009, where I am connected to probably 20% of my class of 500+ in one way or another online. Probably the same % that would show up to a reunion because they're type that likes to "stay connected". This means that we may not have spoken to or seen each other face-to-face in years, but I already know what they currently look like, their relationship status and where they work or what they do for a living.

Sheesh! So much for the small-talk to break the ice! I see many conversations on Saturday starting awkwardly with, "Yeah, I saw your daughter's first b-day party photos on facebook, she's a doll!" or "I see from LinkedIn that you just got a new job." While I think that social media is SUCH an interesting phenomenon, I also think that knowing so much about someone that you never really see or talk to will make for an odd encounter when you finally DO see each other again. Does anyone else think this maybe strange?

One cool thing about this online frenzy though is that in honor of our reunion, many classmates have began scanning in old HS photos and adding them to our reunion facebook page. So just for kicks, here's a picture that a friend found of my husband Dave and I at our high school: Homecoming 1997!

Either way, I am really excited to go home this weekend! I know a lot of people say that they would never go back to high school, but I seriously loved my high school years and wouldn't change them for the world. I made many great friends that I still have today and believe it or not there are still friends that I have lost touch with (and have been unable to find online), that I'm sure I will be very happy and surprised to see.

Here's to wondering where the time has gone!