Reunions Why and What and How

Reunions Why and What and How

What is it in people that causes them to want to go back to the people left along the way and be reunited. A number of Dramas are based on reunions of all kinds. They are very important and many people get involved in them. I tried to do an internet search and found nothing about why people want to be reunited, but I have concluded on my own that it is part of our DNA wiring and the “herd” instinct.

I have attended my family reunion for about 35 years held yearly. Some of the people come 600 miles and stayed with their own family and spent a few hours with the larger group. WHY has boggled my mind for years but there is an explanation somewhere. I recently attended a reunion of soldiers of the VietNam war attended by 200 soldiers and wives and friends. Most all traveled many miles and many traveled one to two thousand miles and at great expense to attend. Everyone knows about class reunions and the attendance goes on for 50 years or more. Reunions, what are they all about, really ? WHAT are they all about?

I don’t know any more than anyone else except that I did learn one thing worth knowing about HOW to attend a reunion. If you do go to a reunion, go to talk to everyone and to get to know them again. Do not go to settle old grudges. Evidently some people go to do that and I do think that is a bad idea. Dramas and life are made of good reunions and bad reunions. Bad reunions are made by people who attend for the wrong reason.

Reunions also do not need to be labeled “reunions”. Weddings, Funerals, Parties, planned or chance meetings are all reunions and people are constantly connecting and reconnecting and that is What reunions are all about.

At some point we should have reconciled old issues and JUST want to know more about ourselves and others. Maybe, the reason why we attend is the WHAT and WHY and HOW of reunions.

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Responses

  1. Curiosity… best reason. Interest too, but I think it’s mostly curiosity about how everyone looks and about what has happened to them. Maybe some go w/ the motive to show off how good they look or what great fortune has befallen them, or just generally how they’ve fared. Also, nostalgia… always wanting to go back to how things used to be to see if they’re still the same ~ they never are :/ Good advice on “how” to attend reunions, tho 🙂

  2. Hi Bloom, I think it,s a form of curiosity to witness change, and to reminisce of times gone by, as long as one does not have great expectations of things being exactly as they were, I think it,s a good thing to see the places where one lived as a child, reconnect with old friends and former aquaintences… nothing nicer than going back to one,s childhood to see history repeating itself.where one played and with who,m , also where one went to school. getting in touch with one,s past is often therapeutic…..xx

  3. Thank you waylander, millie and lani for all your replys. I wrote this blog and by pulling my thoughts together it clarified a lot and your comments have been good and very helpful to me and others. I am sure.

  4. Rose reunions, never been to one, never will……….any friends I made either through work or school days, and forged a bond with have remained in my life…….no interest in hearing about how well anyone has done in their life, or as the case maybe hasn’t……..don’t want to know how many divorces they have had or how many children……….just of no interest to me………if I had liked them enough in the past, then they would still be in my present.xx

  5. Only reunion I have attended was my family one .that was more an excuse for us all to get together in one place at the same time,as there are so many of us.I tend to move on don’t look back.Things change so much so I would rather move on keep memories .

  6. I was one of the thousands of children shipped out of the UK,to institutions in Australia,Canada,and South Africa,under the infamous “Child migration scheme”.
    I ended up in Molong NSW,along with about 150 other kids for 8 years and finally left when I was 17 yrs old.
    We hold a reunion every 2 years,in Orange NSW,because for various reasons for many,the kids we lived with were the only family we knew,so even though not everyone can get to a reunion and the ranks are thinning fast as ppl pass on,
    Thats the reason we have reunions.

      1. The reasons are many and varied why we were sent and not returned,Rose,..There have been at least 2 films made of this..”The leaving of Liverpool”,and “Sunshine and Oranges”..also a number of books have been published on this matter.
        Some of the institutions looked after the children reasonably well,but others (quite often the church based ones,unfortunately),brutalised and enslaved the kids…..Happily,I was one of the lucky kids.
        At the moment,a govt enquiry is being held in Australia into this whole affair,and some class actions are pending.
        If you are interested Rose,you can google “Fairbridge Farm School”,where I lived,and learn much more than I can explain on this venue…theres even a number of pics of me as a child on that website 🙂

          1. cappuccino, I have been googling and I appreciate your explanation. learned a lot about WWII and the British experience from this site.