by Vicki Phipps

Created on: January 07, 2009

I used to be in charge of my high school reunion committee, because you see, that's what everyone expects of me. As a former cheerleader of S.H. Rider High, it seemed natural for me to inspire everyone to come. Even so and although they depend on me to contact everyone and take charge of each reunion, I don't know if I can take another one.

REUNION 2009: WHAT REUNIONS ARE LIKE AT MID-LIFE

I used to say as if I was joking, "The last time I had fun was 1974," but I'm not joking anymore. They were the best days of my life. That fact seems sad to me, considering the fact that it's now 2009. As hard as it is to admit it, I'm fifty and I still don't have a clue what to do with my life. Do I attend this time, or do I accept that I've arrived at mid-life? Well, okay, so I'm actually fifty-two and will soon be fifty-three. So sue me. The point is that my 35th high school reunion is coming up soon and once again, I'm confused. I don't have a clue what to do about all my reunion issues.

You see, as a grown woman of fifty-two, I've paid my dues and as of today, the price for being the popular girl in school has already been paid. Still, it's as if the moment I step into the reunion room, I feel the need to be seventeen, which means I tend to revert back to the facts of the past. That's probably why they always say I'm the most unchanged.

HIGH SCHOOL HYPE AND THE CHEERLEADER TYPE:

Do you have a clue how hard it is to be a cheerleader type at mid-life? People think the cheerleaders will marry the football star, have one too many kids and everyone assumes that we all get fat. Even so, the fact remains that I'm still not fat today, and by the way, I divorced the football star, of course. Besides, in spite of that fact, all three of my kids turned out to be successful and smart human beings, even though they were all raised by me, the dumb but fun one, who got married at eighteen and became a golf widow by nineteen. So you see, I didn't turn out to be as predictable as they thought of me.

Even so, I know I'll feel disgraced if I go back to that place where everyone expects me to cheer them on, by being the way I used to be, cheerfully dumb and fun. They always assume I'll do something dumb, because you see, I always do. It happens every time and just remembering the past brings the past back to haunt me. It's as if I become a nit wit again, popular but fun and dumb. I'm the dumb blonde, who happens to be brunette, and yet, the dumb part is something they'll never forget. Every dumb

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