College reunion

[msmemory_archive]

My 25th college reunion is this year, and as ever I don't feel I measure up to my classmates. You should see the beautiful polished (probably retouched!) photo of our class president with her careful makeup and executive hair on the website with the advance publicity for the reunion. I expect there will be much angst in this journal over the next four months.

Comments

[ladymacgregor.livejournal.com]

I went to my 10th year high school reunion, and it was certainly interesting to see where people were trending (jobs, children, etc.). One of the things I remember most was seeing one of The Beautiful Girls there. She was one of the Top Clique in high school - stunningly beautiful, always well-dressed, popular, and bitchy as all hell. (I disliked her intensely for that. Not for the beautiful part - there was actually another girl who *I* thought was even more beautiful, and SHE was very nice. I always admired her.)

Anyway. This woman showed up at the 10th year reunion, and she was even better looking. Expensive fashionable clothes, huge diamond on the finger, perfect hairdo and makeup; owned her own printing business, she said. And she got absolutely falling-down drunk at the reunion and had to be practically carried home by her date (husband? I assume - I wasn't introduced). So there were undoubtedly undercurrents there, and despite the outward facade, I suspect I'm actually happier than she is.

No, you're not Albright or Rodham--I mean Clinton. But I suspect you're happier - and more relaxed - than either of them. You aren't alcoholic, or have drug-addicted kids, or autistic kids (one of the people at my office - you wouldn't BELIEVE the stress he goes through); you haven't gone through a brain-damaging car accident (another high-school acquaintance). You are a highly-respected member of several communities. And I think that if you WANTED to be the president of a huge corporation, you would have been. It's just too much stress and work, and you - like me - chose a healthier lifestyle.

And regarding The Thinner People - when they get to my age, if they're "as thin as they were in high school," in my opinion, they stop looking "slender" and begin looking "starved." I'd much rather be comfortable and enjoy a cookie now and then, rather than having that aggressively thin look that some of The Executive Women have. (Check out Madonna for an example of this.)