Reunion Story

On July 23, I attented the reunion of my high school Al-Azhar. Since I didn’t go to the last reunion five years ago, it was my first reunion with most of my high school friends. It’s really great to see the familiar and not-so-familiar faces. To see the changes in my buddies and to try to find the things that hadn’t changed. It turned out that after 15 years, some of us were still as funny, as friendly and as good-looking as before. There were some changes, of course, and it’s good to see that almost all of my friends had become more mature and wiser, as they should since we’re all over 30 now. Those who were snob once have now become friendlier, and those who were childish came with their own children.

I also met some of my old ‘flings’. Come to think of it, I was rather glad that I never did hook up with any of them. You see, in my high school days, I never had a serious crush. It was mostly one-sided crush which caused by miscommunication. Those that I liked didn’t like me, and those who liked me I didn’t like :P. One of my friends used to say that I changed the fling every month (she’s too kind to say every week instead). Well, what can I say, I let my heart wander free :))). Then again, why would I attach myself with one person when there were so many good alternatives out there? And why would I confine myself in a relationship that was too immature and would not last long? (I’m not talking about you and Eja, Dev. You guys are rare species, do you know that? Who in the world could date someone for 10 years and then get married with that person? Even Titi DJ and Indra Lesmana couldn’t do it).

Back to the reunion story, were I had a boyfriend in high school or even only a steady target of my obsession, I would be awkward in meeting that person again, especially if I came with my family and he came with his family. The reason I said it was because I watched one of my friend, whom we all knew was deeply in love with another friend, chatted and laughed with the family of the person who used to be his crushed. And I couldn’t help thinking, what was on his mind? Did he regret that their relationship didn’t work out? Did he imagine the family to be his family? I wouldn’t know. But I admire him for his forbearance.

Although there were many of my friends in that reunion, some of my other friends didn’t show up. They had their own reasons, but I was a bit disappointed because of it. Some of my friends didn’t come because they had their own agenda, and some others said that they didn’t want us to see them again because they have failures in their life, whether in career or marriage. The latter was the one that upset me. So you had problems in life, so what? We still want to see you, to be friend with you. We all had our own problems; we’re just human, right? I wished I could say that to them in persons. But as I couldn’t, I just wished my dear old friends good luck.

Anyway, it’s not the only thing that bothers me. At the end of the reunion, the committee announced that there was a shortage of money for the event. They also said that the committee would cover the shortage between themselves even though they would really appreciate donation of any amount. As much as I appreciated everything that the committee member had done for us and the reunion, I couldn’t help thinking that there was something amiss in it. One, the committee shouldn’t be burdened with the shortage since the reunion motto was from us, by us and for us. They had worked tiredlessly for free, for God sake! If we let the situation continue, I was afraid that it would create a bad assumption for being a committee member, which was that a committee member should be willing to cover the shortage with his/her own money. And then, nobody wanted to be a committee member anymore. And what would become of the reunion if nobody wanted to get involved in planning it? Second, it would be a good idea if the committee tried to find some sponsors for the reunion, so that they could have some financial back up which could provide the money needed for the event. Or maybe they could create a bazaar which would deliver some cash.

But all in all, I really enjoyed the reunion and I believe, so did my hubby. We watched a slide-show of the old pictures and band-performance of my friends, who performed marvelously, I must say. Yoyon as the MC was really good, and the food was not bad. Even my kids enjoyed the event, judging from the way my Izza swayed to the music and my Reyhan watched the show. There's only one thing that quite disappointing, though, I didn't get any of the doorprizes. The grand doorprize was a cellphone and I had the feeling that I would get it. Usually, I can count on my feelings. Unfortunately, I missed. Huaaaa. Let alone the phone, not even any of the vouchers from Giants and Dewi's Salon came to my way. *sigh*. Anyway, I hope I still can come to the next reunion five years from now.