WE ARE HAVING A REUNION!!

“You go to a school reunion because you want to tell them, that after all these years, you made it. For whatever it is”.

I did not believe that statement. To me a reunion is a moment I always look forward to. It always excites me to acknowledge that the mighty time always has its way to beat us no matter how much we want to stay forever young. Some girls in my younger years I could not forget for their stunning looks kept convincing me that they were really the ones I had always admired. They did not look the same. Some boys I envied for their athletic builds are not now any better than me; they have developed these belies and thinned their hair on their heads. Some did manage to fool the time; they came up with lighter skins (must have been those whitenings) and darker complexions.
And for some I could not recall how they were back then, I just said to them they looked wiser. I do not know what I meant by saying that...

But the real excitement went more than skin deep. I was so thrilled to know that after all those years I could feel the glimpse of time standing still when we met. That all conversation evolved how we got punished by that teacher for not wearing black shoes and white socks; this girl cried a river because some boys (I know them) concocted a plan to give her a quick kiss on her way to the rest room (which I kept hearing that but never got the chance to ask that girl if it was true); that I erased some recorded tape for third graders’ final test and got caught by the teacher himself, Pak Amir, our guru olah-raga. The recollection went on and on and that moment made those nineteen years like yesterday.

But all that conversation that developed during the reunion got me to agree they said above. I overheard some did not come because of, you know, all these they considered failure. The reunion is such an obviously stupid declaration. One friend was not there because she said she was just a housewife and thought she would be ashamed if old friends asked what she did for a living. Though she admitted taking care of kids (and the husband, of course) was beyond how much someone can make every month, she just could not overcome the feeling that success in life must be attached with a job located somewhere in Sudirman or Thamrin or Kuningan. One failed her marriage and knowing that the ex is one of us, the classmates, gave her more reasons not to attend this get-together. She had her point: “Why would I keep hurting myself by all the reminiscing with him around?”

For some less acceptable reasons, some declined to go there because they do not have a kid yet and some because they have too many kids (more than two are deemed too many and they thought it was silly). Remarks like “Is that true you have four children now?!” or “you have no kids yet, right?”
To most, these questions are good lines to open a conversation but to those few, thinking of those questions, the questions kill even before the conversation is started.

But those old photos displayed during the reunion were the eye opener of what is larger than the excuses. Seeing some of our friends are gone forever, I had to admit that no matter happened or happens or will happen, that he or she is alive and here is more than anything to all of us, maybe to me especially. I have not been successful for what they expected me to be and neither have I been immune to those pains but I am glad to tell you that I am still here.


See you in our next reunion, nine teen years from now, in 2027...