Party Like It’s 1992!
1992 doesn’t seem so long ago to me, and yet here I stand at my 20th high school reunion.
Biggest change over the last 20 years? The Jersey perms went away.
We all had to wear name tags with our senior year pictures and, no kidding, EVERY single woman had that same perm. But overall, my class KICKED ASS! Pediatric surgeons, small business owners, CFO’s, publicists, heck there was even a gym-owning bodybuilder in the mix.
We asked each other about the missing people. “What’s Carole up to?” “She’s a science teacher with two kids.” “And Nicole?” “She’s a paralegal with a son and twins.” “Hey, is ________ here? She used to be a total -”
Hey! Ho! Hip hop hurray! ho! Blared the ’90’s music. It was like being on the treadmill at 24 Fitness and listening to my iPod.
So many women were pregnant! “We have a nine-year-old, a seven-year-old and an oops! due in a few months.” Some people looked almost exactly the same (minus the perm) and others seemed to have changed form completely.
The bar was open all night and in vino veritas. “I had such a crush on your wife in school. You’re a lucky man,” the boy from Religion class told my husband. “Yes, I am,” smiled Henri.
Spying the boy from English Lit, I giggling confessed, “I had such a crush on you.” “I’m gay,” he said. “Yes, clearly,” I laughed, “But I didn’t know that when I was 14.”
A break in the music and then, “I’m too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts…”
Working my way through the crowd now. “I’ve been in pharmaceuticals for 14 years.” “I’ve been in my father’s business since after school.” Some classmates went to Boston, others Baltimore and D.C. Some worked in Philly, others New York, but most stayed close to home in Jersey. “I live in Robbinsville.” “I live in Ewing.” “I live in Bordentown, and you?”
“Well…first I was an actress living in NYC and did two national tours playing Anne Frank and Scout in “To Kill A Mockingbird,” then moved to Los Angels and was on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” got my real estate license, managed a 48 story high rise, got married, moved to San Diego, had 2 kids, moved to Austin, Texas, where we own a 27 unit apartment building and flip houses now, gained weight, started bodybuilding, lost weight and now I blog about it all.”
“WAIT, WHAT???”
Jump around! Jump around! Jump up, jump up and get down! Jump! Jump! Jump!
The dance floor got packed again. If nothing else leading a crazy life was worth it just to see the shocked expressions reflected in my classmates’ ever widening eyes.
My husband met my ex-boyfriend. That was weird.
Most everyone had kids and a spouse, and I was particularly proud of mine. 
My 20 year course was anything but linear and I’m happy to have traveled a long part of that bumpy road with Henri. We’ve built a great life together.
My classmates seemed genuinely happy with their life choices as well. An interesting life is doubly sweet, I’ve heard it told: once when you live it and again when you retell it.
May your life be twice sweet as well.
Lisa
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