What Reunion is Really About

Dear Classmates,
With reunion just a few weeks away, some of you may still be thinking about whether you should join the hundreds of classmates who have already registered. We thought it might be helpful if we shared our thoughts on what our 25th Reunion is, and is not, about.

First what it is not about. Reunion is not about accomplishments and accolades, or who has attained fame and fortune. And, reunion is not about measuring how life has stacked up to the dreams we had 25 years ago. All of us have had struggles and disappointments. We have not met a classmate who contends that their life has turned out just as they had planned. We have all lived enough life to know that we must cherish the good times and find the strength to endure the more challenging times.

Next, what it is about. At its core, Reunion is about people -- reconnecting with friends and classmates who share a common bond. It's about finding out what kinds of lives others have built, what they have overcome, what they have done to grow, what passions they have pursued and where they are going next. That's what so interesting and exciting about seeing our classmates again.

When everyone sees each other a few weeks from now at Reunion, we will no doubt be tempted to focus on the basic questions that help us peg where each other are -- where do you live? what do you do for a living? do you have kids? etc. These questions are natural, and are a lot like the questions we asked all those many years ago during Freshman year -- where are you from? where did you go to high school? what college are you in? Ultimately, though, we didn't make friends with people, we didn't get to really know those we got to know, based on these basic questions. We got to know our friends because of what kind of people they were, what passions they followed, and whether they could make us laugh or think or grow -- and that is precisely what we should be thinking about when we go to Reunion.

That is why we have worked to put together a great reunion; and, that is why we would really like to see everyone there.

We really do hope to see you at Reunion. Log on to www.aya.yale.edyu/reunions and register today. We will all be glad you did.

Lisa, Tim and Darcy