pujantes por el reencuentro

14:34 Sep 29, 2014 

Hi!
I agree with Charles: Pujante - eager for.
(on a personal note, as a mother, "pujar" reminds me of child birth - pujar is to push to have the baby. So "aprehensive, but excited" makes sense here)

Also, instead of "meeting" - I would prefer "encounter"

13:48 Sep 29, 2014 

This is exactly where my train of thought was going. I think the guests were probably apprehensive because, after all, 30 years had gone by.

13:30 Sep 29, 2014 

"Estar pujante por algo" is not a common expression and it's very difficult to tell precisely what it means here. Since "pujante" itself means booming, thriving, vigorous, you might assume it means "eager for", "longing for", and quite probably it does. Then again, it could be more like "excited about".

But who knows. If the author is using it as a way of expressing the idea of "pujar", there are other possibilities, since "pujar" can also mean:

"2. intr. Tener dificultad en explicarse, no acabar de romper a hablar para decir algo.
3. intr. Vacilar y detenerse en la ejecución de algo."

So conceivably it might mean "were hesitant about" or even "apprehensive about". After all, there are various ways you might feel about seeing people after so many years.

So I don't feel able to propose an answer. If it were me I would ask the author to clarify it by suggesting a synonym, if possible.