when you bump into somebody you've not seen for years...

[dolf]

I always find myself irrationally shocked that they have grown up. like... you're a teacher? with a wife? and kids? and a beard?? how the hell did that happen?! and then I suddenly feel overly conscious that... i'm a grownup to! with a responsible job! and kids! and bills to pay!!! and i'm goofily awkward, lost for words, trying to process this newsflash.

 

[bronzeage]

I always find myself irrationally shocked that they have grown up. like... you're a teacher? with a wife? and kids? and a beard?? how the hell did that happen?! and then I suddenly feel overly conscious that... i'm a grownup to! with a responsible job! and kids! and bills to pay!!! and i'm goofily awkward, lost for words, trying to process this newsflash.

When I went to my 30th high school class reunion, everyone recognised me. It was awkward because I had no idea who any of them were until I heard their voice. Of the group who survived to make it back after 30 years, there were no great surprises. It was the ones not there who surprised us.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Ran into my high school junior varsity basketball coach a couple of months back. Now the last time I saw him was maybe 1975 or so when he was maybe 30 years old....wow, he got OLD!

When I went to my 30th high school class reunion, everyone recognised me. It was awkward because I had no idea who any of them were until I heard their voice. Of the group who survived to make it back after 30 years, there were no great surprises. It was the ones not there who surprised us.

Facebook has taken most of the surprise and intrigue away from learning about unexpected classmates' deaths and imprisonments at reunions.

 

[Phelia]

Ran into my high school junior varsity basketball coach a couple of months back. Now the last time I saw him was maybe 1975 or so when he was maybe 30 years old....wow, he got OLD!



Facebook has taken most of the surprise and intrigue away from learning about unexpected classmates' deaths and imprisonments at reunions.

I'm always impressed with how good teachers are at remembering names. Even my mother will run into an old teacher of mine sometimes, and they'll usually recognize her and ask about my life and recall incredible details. Teachers are awesome

Facebook does sort of take the mystery out of it. That's why I don't use it very much at all - everything feels like an overshare. It makes me a pariah of my generation, and now when I go back for weddings or anything like that I'm this dark, enigmatic figure that everyone's dying to talk to because they haven't seen me post a picture of my breakfast in months. Antisocial media FTW.

 

[bronzeage]

Ran into my high school junior varsity basketball coach a couple of months back. Now the last time I saw him was maybe 1975 or so when he was maybe 30 years old....wow, he got OLD!



Facebook has taken most of the surprise and intrigue away from learning about unexpected classmates' deaths and imprisonments at reunions.

When I was about 23, I met my junior high coach coming out of a store. The last time he saw me, I was 13. Now, I was 8 inches taller, 100 lbs heavier, had hair to my shoulders and a full beard. He saw me and said, "How's it going, Zeage?"

 

[richard_daily]

Facebook does sort of take the mystery out of it. That's why I don't use it very much at all - everything feels like an overshare. It makes me a pariah of my generation, and now when I go back for weddings or anything like that I'm this dark, enigmatic figure that everyone's dying to talk to because they haven't seen me post a picture of my breakfast in months. Antisocial media FTW.

I'm the same way. I have gotten emails from people asking why I'm not on facebook more times than I can count. It's a huge time waster and honestly, I don't give a fuck about most of the people who would want to "friend" me on there. I'm old-fashioned; I like sending letters, calling people on the phone, and beating women's asses with a belt.

 

[RobDownSouth]

When I was about 23, I met my junior high coach coming out of a store. The last time he saw me, I was 13. Now, I was 8 inches taller, 100 lbs heavier, had hair to my shoulders and a full beard. He saw me and said, "How's it going, Zeage?"

After high school, I did four years in the Army, then went to college a little older than everyone else.

One day during summer semester in college, I ran into an old HS football coach of mine, a nasty piece of work who had no business being around kids.

I nodded and said "Hello, Bill". He snarled back "You call me COACH!". I told him to fuck off, this wasn't high school. It was one of my more satisfying moments in college.

 

[Liar]

I always find myself irrationally shocked that they have grown up. like... you're a teacher? with a wife? and kids? and a beard?? how the hell did that happen?! and then I suddenly feel overly conscious that... i'm a grownup to! with a responsible job! and kids! and bills to pay!!! and i'm goofily awkward, lost for words, trying to process this newsflash.

More and more I feel overly conscious that I don't have the wife, kids and house in the burbs, while all my old mates have started working on their second or third spawn...

 

[CandiCame]

More and more I feel overly conscious that I don't have the wife, kids and house in the burbs, while all my old mates have started working on their second or third spawn...

Right? I was always the anti-establishment, "This world is already overpopulated, wtf would we make more people?" guy. Now if I meet people I knew in high school and they see I have a kid I feel like I'm going to have to explain, "Hey birth control is only 99% effective! She's a 1%er! ...wait, no, that's a bad turn of phrase."

When I see people I haven't seen in a while I never remember them. I have a super shitty memory. But they come up and start talking to me like there was no gap and I'm sitting there faking my way through the conversation, trying desperately to remember who the fuck they are. It's really awkward and I totally hate it. I wish that there was some kind of google glasses app for that or someshit. That would recognize the face, play it up against a bunch of facebook pics looking for similarities and then tell me who the fuck I'm talking to.

Holy shit- wait. Is that a thing? Can I patent that? Do I have a viably good idea? I never have good ideas, I don't know what to do with this.

 

[JohnnySavage]

If it were a true bump that I didn't see coming, I'd tip my hat and say, "G'day"

Otherwise I'd cross the street to avoid the bump.

People from my past are all in my past for a reason and there's no compelling reason to interact with them.

Life is in the future, not the past!

 

[butters]

I always find myself irrationally shocked that they have grown up. like... you're a teacher? with a wife? and kids? and a beard?? how the hell did that happen?! and then I suddenly feel overly conscious that... i'm a grownup to! with a responsible job! and kids! and bills to pay!!! and i'm goofily awkward, lost for words, trying to process this newsflash.

when it's happened to me, it tends to be a pretty nice surprise and no, no awkwardness - just filling in the gaps, talking as if we'd last spoken only days before. in other words, relating to then in the same emotional space as i last did; sometimes the shock comes later, during the catching up process, when i find they're not the person i used to think they were. so sometimes it's a little disappointing. usually it's just pretty cool.

 

[warrior queen]

Depending on who it is, it's either a total shock to see who/what they've become or a slightly raised eyebrow and a 'yep, not unexpected'.
There's a reunion for my old school in a couple of weeks, but as all the best from back then are either not going or passed on, I won't make the trek. I have zero interest in reconnecting with most of the ones left.

 

[girlsmiley]

A couple of years ago I met up with a cousin I'd not seen since we were like, 5 y/o or something.

We were the best of friends when we were little. Same age. We were both really skinny and dark as from playing out in the sun. Fucken black, mate.

My mum would have him over all the time and we would play. We were good mates.

Anyway, I met up with him at the footy.

I cried, he cried. It was pretty emotional.

He has a wife and kids now. He's REALLY funny.

 

[coastal-boy]

I moved away for a reason...and those bumps were it. Guys that stayed ended up with pregnant gf's. My graduating class was 80ish with an equal sex ratio. By 1 year post HS graduation, at least 18 were pregnant. That doesn't include the undergrads...lol.

 

[LillyO]

I bumped into a former boyfriend 8 years after high school.

We have been bumping into each other regularly ever since.

 

[unregistered]