Will You Attend Your 30th Reunion?

As we begin to plan our 30 year Reunion, I find myself AGAIN trying to measure my life accomplishments against former classmates which can really be a fruitless endeavor. In high school we may have defined “success” by money, power, and position. Hopefully by now those of us who survived that flawed perception have re-defined success to include contentment, family achievements - for example, my kids are really great in spite of me, job satisfaction, service to others, or just waking up in the morning healthy and the list could go on and on. 

For one weekend let’s not look forward or even to the present, but let’s go back to that age of innocence, and for some of us, it wasn’t all that innocent Let’s enjoy those early memories and brief friendships that in many ways have impacted our lives. For one brief weekend lets embrace “nostalgia” let’s listen to Styx, REO Speedwagon, America, Seals & Crofts, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, and Bread to name just a few.

I have heard of people that don’t show up to reunions because they feel they haven’t measured up, they lost too much hair, gained too much weight, they don’t have the front office with a window, or their marriage didn’t work out. Is that any of you or all of you?  I watched Balboa or Rocky 6 the other night. I was thinking we were fortunate… or unfortunate to live through the Rocky era. The first movie came out while we were in high school, and last year we saw the final sequel. What stood out to me besides the obvious, the horrible acting and cheesy lines, (and I’m still a fan) is that all the money Stallone has, and the time he gets to spend in the gym, and the special diets and advisers, over those 30 years during the first and the last movie, even Stallone could not escape the aging process so why do we expect special treatment. Rocky was heavier, wrinkled, and full of steroids. And in the life of the character Rocky went though ups and down, wins and losses and that I guess that is the bottom line. Haven’t we learned that life can be hard at times, and bad things can happen to good people? We are at that age where we are now having to take care of our parents, or have had to bury them.

At graduation we were challenged to look forward, so my challenge to you is: for just one weekend, look back and not forward.