“You look exactly the same…”

Standing next to my best friend from high school at our 10th reunion last week, someone told me they didn’t recognize her at all, but figured out who she was by looking at me because I, apparently, “look exactly the same.” Really? Not even a little older? I would be offended except it means the person didn’t notice all the things I obsessed about before going to the reunion.
It could have been worse. One of my friends heard a specific person was there and said, “Really? Where is he?” only to find out he was standing next to the guy! That same friend managed to puke in someone else’s hotel room and pass out in the bed of one of “the cool kids.” It makes my drunk faux pas of asking a kid I never liked if he was the head of the janitorial department when he said he was in charge of a department at the college where he works look pretty tame (I’m still cringing to think about it and can only hope he was too drunk to remember it!)
I’ve been trying to come up with broad generalizations about the reunion and have been unable to do so. It wasn’t any better than I thought it would be, but it wasn’t any worse either. Some people gained a lot of weight, lost their hair, learned to dress stylishly, got married… and others didn’t. Some of the people who never had dates in high school were married, but so were some of the most popular students. On the other hand, some of the girls who always had boyfriends in high school came alone.
It was a room full of people who had one thing in common—the fact that we grew up together. In many cases, that was about all there was to talk about since our lives had diverged in huge ways since then. It was kind of like going to a party where you know everyone and don’t know anyone, all rolled into one. (How’s that for confusing?) It was a good time.