NO EXCUSES!!!


  

                 BHS Class of 1980

 

 Hey everyone, I just came across a cool article regarding REUNION JITTERS! Anyone got them? Whether or not you feel anxious about attending, take a minute a read this. I think you'll feel a whole lot better!


High School Reunion Jitters -
Anyone who has been to a class reunion knows there is a certain amount of anxiety associated with attending a reunion. As the reunion approaches your mind becomes flooded with thoughts. Will there be anyone there I know? What if my old boyfriend or girlfriend is there? What if nobody remembers me? What if I don't recognize classmates or remember their names? What if I run into someone I didn't get along with in school? I've put on weight. I've gone gray. I've lost my hair. I'm not that successful.

Relax! You are not alone in these thoughts. Everyone else is having the same exact thoughts and reunion jitters. Don't let these thoughts get in the way of attending your class reunion.

Bottomline is we have all changed. So what! Your not 17 anymore. The laws of gravity and time catch up with all of us eventually. Changes are an inevitable fact of life. Accept yourself for who you are. Be yourself. Celebrate life's changes. Relax and go and have a good time. Letting such negative thoughts impact your decision to attend may result in you missing out on a wonderful time.

Focus your thoughts instead on the positive aspects of attending. This is an opportunity to go out and have some fun once every 5 or 10 years, renew old friendships, catch up with each others lives, to celebrate your youth and feel young again (if only for a moment), to reminise about the good old days, to share time with old friends while we are still able to, to celebrate our changes. You will quickly find that people are not there to judge you but are there for the same reasons you are to have a great time and touch their past. It can be a wonderfully rejuvinating experience. When it is over we can take comfort in the fact that we have all changed, we've all gone down different paths in life but that we all still share a common bond and enjoy a good party.

Here's some tips to help you relax at your class reunion:
- Go with an attitude of having fun.
- Be yourself and be proud of who you are.
- Dress comfortably.
- Remember everyone will have changed. You're not alone.
- Hookup with a few close classmates beforehand and go to reunion together.
- It's perfectly ok to not remember somebody. Our memories all fade. That's why name tags were invented! 
                                               


TOP 10 REASONS NOT TO MISS YOUR CLASS REUNION

1. You'll laugh, cry, and reminisce with some of your old friends.

2. It's OK to not remember someone. That's why name tags were invented!

3. Feel better realizing you are not the only one who has been married, divorced, married, divorced and still looking.

4. Rekindle or begin new relationships.

5. Show everyone how sexy bald is!

6. Even if you had some negative experiences in high school, don't fret about it, you'll most likely laugh about it now.

7. Enjoy an evening out without the kids.

8. Use the reunion as an opportunity to diet and shape up.

9. Humor the reunion committee; they usually are a bunch of deluded die hards who think everyone should show up to appreciate their efforts.

10. And finally, studies have shown that those who were initially hesitant about attending their reunions, discover it was the event that they wouldn't have missed!



 



 

NO EXCUSES!!!
If you are NOT coming to the reunion, you need a good excuse and a note from your Mom. The following reasons have been tried and are UNacceptable:

Excuse #1: I've gained a lot of weight!
Rebuttal: Look around!! I doubt any of us could get back into our jeans from high school any more.
Excuse #2: I'm a different person than I was in high school.
Rebuttal: Lucky for you, we ALL are. Let's face it: we could only have improved.
Excuse #3: I don't look as good as I'd like. I (choose one or more) am bald, have wrinkles, saddlebags, grey hair and no one will recognize me.
Rebuttal: Guess what! You won't recognize anyone else, either. Our whole class looks like a "before" photo in a plastic surgery ad (just kidding).
Excuse #4: I'm not successful. I'm not (choose one or more) a lawyer, a doctor or rich.
Rebuttal: You'll be pleasantly surprised to find how much everyone has matured. We may be plump and wrinkled (see Excuse #3, above) but we're not stupid. Money is not success. You have found success when you are happy doing what you're doing!
Excuse #5: I was not in a popular clique in school.
Rebuttal: Now that we're older and smarter, those cliques have dissolved just like the superficialities they were based on. The only cliques you'll notice at the reunion will be the sound of your joints as you walk around.
Excuse #6: It seems like all the classmates drink alcohol at the reunion.
Rebuttal: Not all of us drink - plain and simple. Some of us only have a few drinks at the reunion to relax (cause we're nervous) but if you don't want to drink alcohol there'll be plenty of other drinks available.


 

             

 

 

 

                                                                 

 
WHY YOU SHOULD NOT MISS YOUR CLASS REUNION
 
I am sure many former students, no matter what high school they attended, ask the age old question, "Why should I attend my class reunion?" It is a valid question, and I am sure if you expend a large allotment of time and mental effort, one could find a myriad of reasons not to make an appearance.

Some of us will not attend because we are mentally limited by the way our lives have turned out, or the way we may appear.

"Man, I can't attend looking like this. I look as broad as a barn, with the doors both wide open."

"Gee, what if people discover that I shovel elephant dung at the circus."

" Will my friends be intimidated that I am lavishly and sinfully wealthy?"

Of course you could be the fat man at the circus, where you shovel pachyderm feces on the side, but you have made several million bucks on the sides as a commodities trader. Wouldn't that be a story to tell your old friends?

We are not the same people that took those final steps from those memorable halls over 30 years ago. Back then we were all fresh faces, with dreams in hand and spirit, eager to stamp our own unique signature into this temporal world. Some of those dreams came to fruition. For others those dreams changed and evolved into a different and marvelous reality unfathomable as mere kids.

Whatever we have become, for the most part we are far better people than when we left the launching pad back in 1980. We are more articulate, expressive and more self assured of ourselves. We have the ability to fight through the insecurities of youth and peer pressure that limited the full potential that resided; chained deep within our psyches. For once we can reveal our true selves and in return uncover the 'undiscovered country' in our friend's lives. We are more complete people.

It is a time of rediscovering why we were all friends and companions at one time , The fact that we have shared a common experience during a moment in time that was extremely bless by God and directed by loving parents, is the social glue that beckons at the core of our souls to come home, one more time.

It is my hopes and prayers that you will have a blast at your reunion. Understand that time is a precious and limited commodity. Invest into it wisely and reap the wealthy payout in smiles, laughs and love.

Go Colts 

 

 


 

 

 
 
ADVANTAGES OF GROWING UP IN A SMALL TOWN
 
1) You can name everyone you graduated with.

2) You know what Pill Hill and 4-h means.

3) You went to parties at the River, the Bluffs, or on Pill Hill.  On Monday you could always tell who was at the party because of the scratches on their legs from running through the woods when the party was busted. (See #6.)

4) You used to 'drag' or cruise Fry Blvd.. 

5) You whispered the 'F' word and your parents knew within the hour.

6) You scheduled parties around the schedules of different police officers, because you knew which ones would bust you and which ones wouldn't.

7) You could never buy cigarettes because all the store clerks knew how old you were (and if you were old enough, they'd tell your parents anyhow.) Besides, where would you get the money?

8) When you did find somebody old enough and brave enough to buy cigarettes, you still had to go out into the country and drive on back roads to smoke them.

9) You knew which section of the ditch you would find the beer your buyer dropped off.

10) It was cool to date somebody from the neighboring town.

11) The whole school went to the same party after graduation. (The River)

12) You didn't give directions  to parties by street names, but rather by references. Turn by Cairns' house, go 1 block up, turn right, and after the wash, Lenios is on the left.

13) The golf course had only 9 holes.

14) You couldn't help but date a friend's ex-boyfriend/girlfriend.

15) Your car stayed filthy because of the dirt parking lot at BHS, and you will never own a dark vehicle for this reason.

16) The town next to you was considered 'trashy' or 'snooty,' but was actually just like your town.

17) You referred to anyone with a house newer then 1970 as the 'rich' people.

18) The people in the 'big city' dressed funny, and then you picked up the trend 2 years later.

19) Anyone you wanted could be found at the local K-Mart parking lot or the Roller Rink.
 
20) You knew all the names of your classmates brothers and sisters.

21) The gym teacher suggested you haul hay for the summer to get stronger.

22) Directions were given using the stop light at 7th St as a reference.

23) When you decided to walk somewhere for exercise, 5 people would pull over and ask if you wanted a ride.

24) Your teachers called you by your older sibling's names.

25) You graduated with the same kids you went to 1st grade with.

26) You could charge at any local store or write checks without any ID.

27) There was no McDonalds. Okay, yes there was but it had just opened, remember?  (Our's was the first "Drive-Thru")

28) The closest mall was an hour and a half away.

29) The Christmas Parade lasted 1/2 hr.

30) You've pee'd in the river.

31) Most people went by a nickname.

32) You fell on your butt at the Roller Rink, and everyone knew it the next day.
 
33) You played Spin the Bottle and were to embarrassed to go to school the next day.


agape