This time, I have dinner plans with some of my dearest friends and genuinely look forward to catching up with classmates I haven't seen since the last reunion.
Many reunion encounters, however, come with the obligation to summarize the last 5, 10 or 15 years of your life in 60 seconds or less. At the 5th reunion it was easy: federal law clerk enjoying the Seattle scene. The 10th too: traveling with husband to exotic locales after working at DOJ and appellate litigation boutique. Accurate summaries that appeal to the competitive, achievement-oriented alum.
The life summary for this go-around isn't as easy. There are the boring, obvious options: Mom, community volunteer, legal researcher. The cliche: Soccer Mom (even though Little S doesn't play soccer). The self-aggrandizing: CEO of my family, Vice President of WW Enterprises. The humorous: recovering attorney making up for the bad things she did in private practice. The slightly obscure: Recess Monkey super fan.
Maybe, 15 years out, we all realize that our lives are a lot more than titles or flashy adventures. Maybe we've been through enough ups and downs in our personal, work and community lives to look beyond a classmate's elevator speech for the real experience.
Or maybe not. In which case, I'm open to suggestions.
UPDATE: I'm back from my reunion. Many classmates are struggling with the same issue and are trying to find the right balance between work and family, overachievement and sanity. One slightly drunk friend, when told I wasn't currently employed yelled, SherriLynn isn't working?! Sigh.
1 comment:
I read somewhere recently that in Europe, it rarely comes up at a dinner party what someone does for a living - rather, issues of the day such as politics, culture etc are discussed. Wouldn't it be nice if we had such a culture?
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