“Why rebirth something that wasn’t necessarily fun?”

When a representative for the Class of 1988 responsible for putting together the 20th high school reunion in 2008 called asking if I would be attending, my response was a mix of what actors Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald told director/co-star Andrew McCarthy when he asked them if they’d like to be interviewed for his documentary on their “Brat Pack” days back in the mid-1980s called "Brats".

“She (Ringwald) said she’d think about it but that she’d probably like to keep looking forward,” McCarthy said.

Though he “politely declined” McCarthy’s offer, Nelson’s response sounded too direct. Like he had no love to revisit that time almost four decades ago.

“Why kind of rebirth something that wasn’t necessarily fun,” the reclusive actor told Us Weekly. “He’s (McCarthy) a nice guy, but I hadn’t seen him in 35 years. And it’s like, I’m not going be like, ‘Hey!’ No dude.”

Emilio Estevez, who starred with McCarthy, Nelson, along with Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe and Mare Winningham in “St. Elmo’s Fire” (1985) about seven college graduates struggling to make something of themselves in the real world, agreed to be interviewed but only because McCarthy called him.

“I’m not interested in revisiting, which is why I’m not interested in, you know, dredging up the past because I think if you’re too busy looking in your rearview mirror and looking at what’s behind you, you’re going to stumble trying to move forward,” Estevez said in the documentary.

Bishop Lynch Class of 1988

I understand where they came from, especially Nelson. If “Brats” had come out in 2008 instead of 2024, my response to that Class of ‘88 representative would have been the same as the actor. I would have “politely declined” though I probably would have uttered a sarcastic comment before hanging up. I found it to be one thing to be told about the 20th reunion but then to be told if I wanted to go there’d be a fee involved. Ok, ok! The fee was to pay for the place the class was holding the party at. But still.

I’ve made it no secret I loathed my high school years when I attended Bishop Lynch in Dallas from 1984-88. I only liked freshman year because it was a new chapter in my life as I hailed from out of state and knew no one so, to some extent maybe, I stress the word, maybe, the experience was exciting. By the time senior year began in August ’87, I was counting down the months to May ’88 when those four years would be over and could close the book on that less than satisfying chapter of my life.

So, to quote Nelson, why “rebirth something that was not much fun to begin with” twenty years later when I got that fateful phone call in 2008?

Like getting a junior ring, for example, during the 86-87 school year. I threw away that money. I didn’t learn until 25-years later just how much I threw away on that ring when I tried selling it to a pawn shop for money and the dealer laughed and handed it back to me. There’s 100 bucks or more I won’t see again!

I didn’t need a ring to prove I was going to be a senior the following year like this was some sort of rite of passage. To quote postal carrier, Newman (Wayne Knight), from “Seinfeld” (1989-1998) when asked why he didn’t deliver mail in the rain, “I was never big on creeds.”

I only got the damn thing because everyone in class was getting one! And I know I’d get grief from my parents who’d wonder why I wanted no part of Bishop Lynch history. The ring now sits in a storage bin with all the high school newspapers and yearbooks, none of which I am ever going to go through again. Not even when I move unless my significant other feels like dredging up the past.

In high school not only was I not an athlete, but I was also not an athletic supporter. I was, however, a fan of the brigade whose attire was the black and white over-the-knee skirts and their three-inch high heeled white boots. To quote Al Bundy from “Married… with Children” (1987-1997) on his reason for being a fan of the British spy series, “The Avengers" (1961-1969) was all because of Emma Peel, my reason for liking the ladies of the BL Brigade was because they “kicked really high.”

Imagine my disappointment when I attended the alumni party at the 2015 homecoming/football game that the brigade was not only smaller watching them perform during the halftime show but gone were those white Go-Go boots replaced by white cowgirl boots and the black and white outfits no longer looked “domineering.” They were now like every other high school brigade team. They no longer stood apart.

Course I only attended the alumni party that year out of curiosity to see what the campus looked like now with all the new buildings added, all of which I’m sure was paid for by the $20,000 tuition parents pay now to send their kids there versus the $5000 my parents paid to send me from 84-88.

I didn’t bury the hatchet and let sleeping dogs lie with the past until the 30th reunion came in 2018. Like McCarthy’s documentary, “Brats” where my interest was not who appeared in the film, but who didn’t, I took note at the reunion of who was missing than I did on those who attended. Some likely already had plans that weekend and skipped. Others just blew it off.

Class of 1988 - 2018 30th Reunion

When someone at the reunion asked about why so-so person was not there, one of the class reps said she talked to that former student who was among the more popular ones in our class. That person, who has a family and lives out of state told her he was done reminiscing about the high school days and that part of his life was over. She sounded hurt when he told her that.

I don’t blame that classmate though. He’s not the only one, nor am I. There’s probably one, if not several who don’t want to look back on the past.

I’ve not seen two of my friends from high school since before 2006 while the other, Joel Mathews, I saw back at the 30th. All of us still live in the same state. One of them, Kelly Reed, suggested how the four of us should plan a trip together like to either New Orleans or Las Vegas. That was six years ago.

I already believe such a reunion to be nothing more than wishful thinking. The kind of wishful thinking fans of the “Fab Four” hoped would happen in their lifetime after The Beatles broke up in 1970 only to have it all tragically end ten years later.

By comparison, perhaps the only possibility of us getting together again is when one of us leaves this world. The way my health has been since 2015 (five hospital stays now for diabetes) the first person to become one with “The Force” or. in my case the “Dark Side of the Force” out of the four of us will likely be me.

I’ve no idea if I will show up for the 40th high school reunion in 2028. That’s four years from now. I have enough trouble figuring out what I’m going to do tomorrow.

The 30th may well have been it for me. And like Judd Nelson said, why rebirth something forty years later I didn’t find all that enjoyable forty years ago.

©6/12/24