I skipped the 5th and there wasn't a 10th, or they didn't find me and I didn't care. For the 15th, I took my wife and it was very very interesting.
The dicks are still dicks. The louts are still louts.
What was weird was all the people telling my wife what a great guy I was in High School. I couldn't remember either being a great guy in High School nor could I remember being told that then.
I spent the evening circulating and mingling- talking a lot, mostly with people I didn't really hang out with in HS - out of my circle of intellectual/disassociated AP nerds I was really the only one there - but I was enjoying talking to people, hearing about life and lives, when Marian H*****g come in. (asterisks to prevent google hits). Marian was gorgeous in '86. She was a cheerleader. I don't remember having a complete conversation with her in HS although I do remember helping her out in College at OSU, probably with Spanish. Nothing big - saw her once or twice to help her out in the fall of '86, after that, no calls, dates or anything like that. Then in 2001 in a banquet hall in Ohio she walks in. We're chatting. And a 20 year old dream surreally comes true when she drags me on the dance floor. She's still gorgeous, but also sweet, really nice, down to earth - all the things I never got to know about her because in HS I was never in that social circle.
That still makes me smile. High School was almost redeemed for me in 15 minutes on a night 15 years later. And I know the guys who are still dicks and louts were watching ME that night. I'll just assume they were wishing they were me. That works for me on a lot of levels.
For 15 minutes I was lucky that way. For the rest of my life, I have a great wife and awesome kids. But for whatever reason, in my head, I put those 15 minutes in a glass ball, and keep them separate. I stare into the ball every once in a while.
It makes me smile.