Old classmates will expect the kid they remember. Let them be surprised; don’t perform the old part for them.

People keep a saved version of you from whenever they knew you best, and they greet that version first because it is the only one they have. The pull to match it is strong, especially if the old role was comfortable: the funny one, the quiet one, the one who never minded being teased. Slipping back in is easy, and it costs you the actual present.

At the next reunion or family gathering, answer as who you are now. Let the surprise happen. You owe nobody a repeat performance of your fourteenth year.