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| Adam and Chris are Photobombing Us! :) |
I'm not letting another amazing reunion pass by without posting about it! At the end of July, we had our 25th high school class reunion, for which I did a bunch of the planning. I had planned most of our 20th reunion from BED, so to be able to plan this reunion more easily helped me to see how much my life has continued to change in the past five years.
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| I Adore These Faces |
I was so very excited to see these faces. Jess, Kate, Jamie and I were part of a group of eight friends from 7th grade on through high school (although I met Jess in 4th grade! :)) It was wonderful to have Jamie's wife, Urvi, join us and to see Amy after 25 years!
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| Ready for the Reunion |
I was able to attend the entire reunion, plus stay an extra hour chatting with some folks. I also stood most of the four hours of the reunion. Like, whoa?! This is my whole new life.
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| 25th Reunion Ready! |
I don't often look back at old photos of myself, but as I got ready to write this post, I found the pics from our 20th reunion. When I look at the photos of me from this reunion compared to the last one, I am amazed at the difference in my pallor. And, as you can see, I'm sitting the entire time at the 20th reunion. I literally sat on a chair at one of the high top tables and everyone came over to me to chat. This year, I could mingle as much as I wanted (with a few breaks to sit in between).
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| Kate and Me at our 20th |
Apparently, I choose blue and ivory to wear to my high school reunions?
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| Megan, Jill and I Go All the Way Back to Elementary School |
So glad I got to see Megan at both reunions, but we missed Jill this time around.
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| I Am Sitting in the Presence of Two INCREDIBLE Women Here: Abena and our English teacher, Ms. Riley |
Our 20th reunion was a much bigger event--including a Friday evening event with former teachers. I got to see lots of my favorite teachers and also this wonderful favorite woman, Abena.
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| Our 20th Reunion Crew |
I know that people have become less and less likely to attend their reunions, as is evidenced by the number of people we had this time around compared to five years ago. People seem to feel that social media is "good enough" for keeping in touch. I also think people felt that five years ago seemed like just last year, and were less inclined to attend. That was a bit sad!
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| Our 25th Reunion Crew |
I have LOVED both of our reunions. I've reconnected with people I've lost touch with; I've healed old wounds and miscommunications that went unresolved; I've enjoyed being together in a big group with some of my favorite and oldest friends; I've laughed a lot and hugged a lot of people; I've even connected with folks I didn't even know in high school!
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| We Haven't Aged a Day! Megan, Brian, Adam and Aaron |
Just making it to my 20th reunion was one of the hardest things I could do physically, but also one of my biggest victories. This time around, it was a little bit hard, but not very, and I didn't crash terribly afterwards. Just a bit!
By the end of the night I could feel myself getting the shakes and struggling to sit up any longer, but compared to how my body used to respond (or compared to not being able to attend at all) this seemed minor.
The most difficult part is getting my ANS to calm down after an event, and usually that requires a lot of medication if I want any sleep at all.
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| Adam, Aaron, Me, Megan |
Facebook is no substitute for seeing people in person, catching up, giving hugs, laughing and talking. I am so thankful to everyone who showed up for our reunion!
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| Jess and Kate |
Forever and always friends with these two!
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| Reunion in the Restaurant's Solarium |
We held our reunion at a local restaurant--with beautiful hors d'oeuvres and signature drinks. It worked out perfectly.
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| Jame and I Just Joined The Old IM Basketball Team! :) |
Look at all of these friendly faces I've missed seeing!
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| Jess, Kate, Jamie and Amy |
And these women are so special to me.
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| Look at this Crew! :) |
On Sunday afternoon, our 'crew of four' along with kids and Kate's husband, Brad (also a classmate) went to Jessica's parent's house to chill at the pool. I didn't last very long, but was determined to make it.
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| Jamie and Her Kiddo |
I also got to meet up with Jamie and her kiddos at our local pool on Monday!
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| The Kiddos |
How fun to have everyone's kids all hanging out together while the four of us fell right back into our goofy banter. Jess's daughter, Zoey, thought that we were hilarious as she hung out listening to us. She will soon be just like us with her own friends (she's 12). :)
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| Poolside Mini-Reunion |
We missed the rest of our crew, but I am so very thankful for the time we had together during reunion weekend. Jamie and Jess made a huge effort to travel far for this and I thank them big time.
I still believe in old fashioned reunions. I still believe in taking the time to plan them and reconnect with folks in ways that wouldn't otherwise happen without a planned event.
Thanks to everyone who has attended the past two reunions! You made it well worth the effort of planning!
See you at our 30th!
Blessings,
Emily
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