Have you ever been to a high school reunion?

I went to three of mine 20, 25 & 50 and two of my late wife's, 20 & 25. I wouldn't describe myself as a social nerd in high school -- I was very active in extra-curricular activities, went to Boys State, picked for the Yearbook's Hall of Fame -- but definitely not a part of the inner clique, who were all children of the civic leaders in town and had been hanging together since kindergarden. (I had transferred in during my freshman year.) The 20th was memorable. Rather than being held in the small town we had gone to high school in, they held it in the neighboring city. My wife, who had gone to a neighboring high school, was closer to the inner clique than I because she had gone to elementary school with a couple and was more of an extrovert, so we got invited to the reunion "after party" in a motel. We all got a little drunk and loud; cops were called. What was interesting was how the group, used to being scions of the community, were fish out of water dealing with the situation. And suddenly, the outcast in high school, because I worked in crisis communication, was thrust into negotiating with the cops and got us off with a warning to keep the noise down rather than breaking up the gathering. My 25th was disappointing. The ones I looked forward to seeing were mostly dead or unable to attend and I decided that would be my last. I only went to the 50th in a rare vanity desire to show off my new Corvette. Never got a chance to be seen arriving or leaving, and there was essentially no one left I associated with . Have not been back, and was told the 65th -- 3 years ago -- would be the last.

Both of my wife's were memorable. One was a cruise to nowhere: roundtrip out of Long Beach to Catalina, Ensenada, and San Diego. The other was in town, at the palatial home of one of the class, with terraced yards down to the river, that no one thought he could afford on his job and suspected he was connected to the Mafia. We were not allowed in the house, only on the terraces. There were even port-a-potties set up on the terraces to keep people out of the house. Yet her reunion was not the big story in town. George Lucas' was attending his reunion (her younger brother's class) and caused a big stir arriving in a chauffeured limousine. Having been the nerd in his class, he had a little fit of vanity that topped my Corvette -- and he got noticed.