Remembering When

One of my classmates from high school was in town for a cousin's wedding, and so we got together for dinner. This was the first time in more than 20 years that I'd seen anyone from my graduating class, and it made for some interesting conversation. One of the things that he said to me was: "Reunions are therapeutic." I think I can understand that. Of all of the groups that I've ever been a part of, my high school class had to be the most fractious. By the time those four years were up, many of us ready to be anywhere else on Earth than in each other's company. But now, 25 years later, it's easier to look back, and see ourselves for who we really were, and therefore understand just why we did such an excellent job of rubbing each other the wrong way. I have a great admiration now for our teachers (and I thought fairly highly of them at the time). Managing such a diverse set of personalities, any number of which being at direct odds with one another, was quite a feat.