Was that really 20 years ago??

photo courtesy of the Baltimore Sun

It kind of hit me when the Facebook group invite came in - ‘Towson High School Class of 1994 20yr Reunion’. 20 years? Really?!?

There are few times in the past 20 years when I’ve felt ‘old’. Maybe it’s because I’ve always worked with students, so I feel only slightly older than them. Maybe it’s because I don’t have kids. Maybe it’s because I take gym classes with 20-somethings and see some of them giving up before I do. 

People always thought my mother was much younger than she was, and I’m noticing that more and more people underestimate my age, as I get older. There was the time co-workers were asked to guess my age and one of them said 30. There was the time I talked about applying to colleges 20 years ago and someone thought I must have been some sort of Doogie Howser to be applying to colleges 20 years ago (I probably dated myself with that Doogie reference).

I have to say, I don’t mind being assumed to be younger than I am, but I often wonder what it’s like to ‘feel’ an age. I see pictures of people who are younger than me that shock me - they look so old, I think to myself. Do I look at that old? Do I? I have no idea.

I didn’t like high school - those were probably, collectively, the worst years of my life. I have nothing against the people I went to high school with; I just didn’t like it and have no fond memories of the four years I spent there. Even going back to Towson to see family, takes me back to place of my life I didn’t at all enjoy. Being thousands of miles away is a good excuse to not go to the reunion, but I have to admit that I am curious. 

The only reason I’d want to go to this reunion is because of my curiosity. Curious to see just how old my classmates look. Do we all look like we’re 30, and not 37-39, or am I blessed with my mother’s genes? 

It’s unlikely I’ll find out.