One by one, these weathered, wrinkled, ravaged faces morphed into some of the faces I remembered from school.

I looked into those faces and saw the same kind of bewilderment and surprise and distance that I had always felt from the first day I had met them. Nothing had changed.

Some things had changed … for the worse. I saw signs of further decline.

The star athlete, the guy who dated the prettiest girls, now was overweight and ponderous. The clown, the guy who made everybody laugh, now has a hard time just getting through the day.

The attractive beauty, the girl everybody made Love to in their dreams, now on heavy pills against depression out of loneliness.

For many people, class reunions are a scary time. They see the progress they have made in their life, and they feel it is not enough when compared to their friends from school.

They think about the fact that others might not be as far ahead in life as they dreamed, and they are afraid they will be judged unfairly.

Finding out how people they lost touch with years ago can be a fun and exciting adventure.

For many of those who will attend, it is of the utmost important to look their best.

Some will diet and exercise away those extra pounds, others will rue the fact that they were unable to tune up and look perfect for the reunion.

Class reunions are about life competitions, so looking great is important. And all work hard to ensure their career sounds interesting.

They work many hours to be able to respond to questions in a positive way so the classmates will believe they are at the top of their game.

Many will be concerned about those they competed with and they want to make the best impression possible.

And all are worried, concerned, even afraid that he might turn up. The true One, the lonely One, the akward One, the outsider One. The One and Only.

Viele, von denen man glaubt, sie seien gestorben, sind bloss verheiratet.