This past weekend I reconnected with more than a third of those friends and it was an amazing experience. But who does that? We hear about high school reunions and university reunions but elementary school? I suppose the world of social media, particularly Facebook, is a big part of it but it is also who we were as a class. When my life-long friend from this class told me that everyone from WHPS was on this thing called Facebook, I had to check it out.
My elementary school experience was a unique one. I was in a class of 25 or so kids and most of us remained together from kindergarten to grade 8. Some faces came and went but there was a core group that remained the same for nine years. When I reconnected with these people on Facebook, it was amazing to see what they were doing in life, how they had grown up, and for some, to see their children.
But this is no different than many other people's experience. What is it about us that brought us back together for a reunion? Why did we all feel the importance of reconnecting like we did (even those who wanted to be there but unfortunately could not)?
Part of me feels it is who we each are and how we were raised. We didn't move around like people do today. Our school was not a transient school where people moved in and out. We spent many years together and really got to watch one another grow up and develop into the people we are today.
I am not saying that those years were perfect. I do remember some instances of typical adolescent behaviour of "today I am your friend, tomorrow I am not", and exclusive groupings, but by grade eight we moved away from that and accepted each other for who we each were. I remember grade eight being more like a big family where we supported each other and accepted one another. Part of this has to do with the caring and genuine people we were growing up to be but I also remember our grade 8 teacher, Mr Tetley, encouraging the friendships we had rather than separating people in fear that they would not do the assigned class work. He trusted us to do the right things or accept the consequences if we did not. As a result, this strategy worked to our benefit because we appreciated our close friends and developed acceptance of everyone in the class. As a teacher, I hope that I can instill the same kind of respect and cohesiveness in my students.
(Again, I am not saying that we were perfect, for example I do remember a food fight one day at lunch when we had a supply teacher, that resulted in one of my horse drawings being splattered with strawberry yogurt.)
There was no pretentiousness in our gathering. Everyone was genuine and happy to share their memories and relive those good years. There were even tears as some reflected on what it meant to see what was home for so many years or to see their children play exactly where they did when they were that age. As the day faded into evening and some of us stayed up way past our bed times, we enjoyed sharing our first "legal" drink together and, danced to tunes we loved in the eighties. There were plenty of laughs and hugs to carry us on to the next time we see each other where hopefully more of us will be able to share the memories and reignite old friendships.
Here's to the class of '87!
