It's over... for now...

The 25th reunion was held at UW-Parkside 11/3/07. Attendence was small, but the food was great, the drinks and conversation flowed, and from what I could tell, a good time was had by all. Ending at Parkside around 10:30ish, a good number of us played the role of "wedding crashers" and headed to Infusino's to let Diana C. know we didn't forget about her. It was her wedding day. She looked beautiful and I think she was genuinely touched that we showed up.

I will post comments on the evening here if I receive them. I will post pictures on the Flickr site (see link below) as they are sent to me. To those of you who were there, it was great to see you! To those of you who weren't able to come, maybe in 5 more... I wish you all the very best. ~ Carol

Pre-Reunion Commentary:

On the radio this morning (when I turned it on, it was on 620TMJ - probably from having the Brewers on yesterday briefly), I heard the morning host say that his class didn't have a lot of people signed up for their 20th HS Reunion - about 30 out of over 300. I found it timely that they were discussing why their HS class was so "lame" as far as people signing up. :-) I think they were right - in the information age we're in now, most people can now find out "where are they now?" and "what are they doing now?" and so they don't really feel the need to attend a reunion to catch up with people. Then there's the whole "I'm not successful enough" mindset or the "I've let myself go and people will judge me" thinking. It isn't that way. I know caring about your HS reunion is often thought of as "living in the past." I mean, who actually attended H.S. less than me?? :-) I didn't even officially graduate! **gasp**  I think what those who haven't been to a reunion are missing is that it is SO not high school all over again, and it is certainly not the stuff of sitcoms where people are exaggerated version of what they were in HS. Perhaps our class is one of the exceptions, but I doubt it, as my sister's class reunion was quite the same way, I believe. Rather than being an event that continues to widen the gap between the jocks and the burnouts, the beauties and the geeks, etc... spending time in the "real world" becomes the great equalizer and I think we were all able to connect on levels we couldn't imagine in high school. Levels of "success" become relative. "Beauty" really does become more than skin deep. Those we barely knew and may not have even thought much about become the most interesting stories in the room. Those we thought lived charmed lives, people we assumed we'd always be jealous, suddenly seem pretty ordinary (not that there's anything wrong with that!). We are now old and wise enough to know that everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has had successes and struggles, pains and joys, and have taken unexpected paths in the past 25 years - good and bad. It's not traumatic. This is just a night to chill out and have fun with other 40somethings (okay - that was really painful to write!!)!! So, RSVP - whether you can make it or not! Say hello! Let us know what you're up to! ~ Carol (Jankovich) Garner

Download the 20th Reunion Book HERE

(right click and save .pdf file to your desktop)

PHOTOS of classmates, their families, milestones, travels, accomplishments,
and the 2002 reunion, etc... will be posted to: FLICKR

Additional Updates and Message Board: CLASSMATES.COM

Contact information/updates, please contact:
Cathy-Lynn Cuadra May or Carol (Jankovich) Garner