July 18, 2000

One year ago: I get cut off from the outside world, and it scares me. Clearly, I would not do well on Big Brother.

As you may remember from my constant references to it here, I was in charge of planning my high school's ten-year reunion, and it happened this past Saturday. Here are some pictures -- there are more pictures at the reunion website if you are interested. I figured since people reading this really only know me, they would be interested most in the pictures in which I appear. So this first one is Jim and I at my mom's house. The second one is me, Molly and Brenda early on in the evening. The third one is me and my friend Bola near the end of the evening. I have no idea why I'm making that face, but you can totally see my farmer's tan in that picture. More on that later. Anyway, the week leading up to the reunion was fraught with peril. Even though the deadline to send in checks was June 26th, I was still getting phone calls, e-mails and checks in the mail right up to the end. I'm not surprised by it, but it didn't help my stress level any. I guess I should just be glad that people wanted to attend, right? I had to give a head count to the Country Club on Tuesday, and it was 63. We ended up with a total of 71, if that shows you how many people were last-minute. And then there were more people who couldn't come to the dinner part for various reasons, but wanted to come later, which added probably another 10. I was really happy with the turnout. My graduating class had 97 people but 2 people died and 2 are in jail (that I know of), and we ended up having 44 class members there. Not bad!

Jim and I went to my mom's house on Friday night. Saturday, I woke up anxious. I had brought a dress to wear, but due to the aforementioned farmer's tan (plus my everpresent fear of exposing my fatty upper arms), I wanted to get something to wear over the dress. We went to the mall and I quickly located a nice cardigan-style sweater on sale for $20. Bargain! After we returned home, I went with my mom and dad to see my brother's new house, which is beautiful. I was glad to have something to occupy my time, because I was getting more anxious as the day wore on. I want to state for the record that Jim was extremely helpful, reassuring me that everything would be fine, that I looked beautiful, and that no major catastrophes were going to happen. At the reunion itself, he was totally self-sufficient and did not complain one time, even though he had to have been bored silly with the stories that started, "Remember in fifth grade..." and "Have you heard about so-and-so?" He held my camera, bought me drinks, made small talk with my friends, danced with me, and was the all-around perfect date. Hands off, ladies, he's mine! Anyway, the reunion was scheduled to start at 6, and I wanted to be the first one there in case there were any problems. We arrived and I told them the updated head count, which necessitated setting up another table, but other than that, things were fine. We used our leftover money to set up a bar tab, and I helped myself to a beer, which went a long ways towards calming my anxiety!

Then, people started showing up. Brenda was nice enough to volunteer to get there early too, so Jim and I wouldn't be stranded by ourselves. I think it was a good idea to have the open bar at first, because it ensured that people got there on time! Soon the room was filled with my classmates and their dates, and the gossip was free-flowing. But the very nicest thing was how many people came up and thanked me for organizing the effort. So many people went out of their way to seek me out and tell me what a great time they were having and how much they appreciated what I had done. I'm a little verklempt just typing it out! It really touched me, and made me feel great about the whole thing. As dinner time approached, I was a little nervous that the DJ wasn't there yet. Just before dinner, he finally arrived, and my last bit of anxiety flew out the door. The drinks I had consumed by this time didn't hurt in that respect. I was smart (unlike at Gretchen's bachelorette party) and stuck to beer alone, instead of trying to drink mixed drinks and such. After dinner (which I thought was really good!) and dessert (which I know was really good!), the DJ started playing. Not too many people danced, and at first I was disappointed that we spent the money on the DJ, but a lot of people told me even if they didn't dance, they liked having the background music. Later, more people got out there but it never really approached critical mass. I guess my class at this juncture in their lives were more interested in talking (and drinking) than dancing, which is fine. All too soon, the end approached. We all decided to go to a local bar to keep the party going. Jim and I stopped at my mom's to change first, and he wisely advised me to switch my beverage of choice to water. I told you he was the perfect date! The fun continued at the bar, and we closed the place down.

So now for the gossip. There actually wasn't that much, because I think we are a pretty tight class and I've stayed fairly aware of what everyone has been doing. And no one really embarrassed him or herself at the reunion. There were no real drunken displays of affection (at least in public, ha ha). One thing that was much anticipated was the fact that Mike Northrup, my prom date, was going to be attending. If you've been reading this journal for a while, or if you live in Upstate New York, you probably know that Mike was recently on trial for murder. The end result was a hung jury, so he is free to go about his business unless the prosecutor decides to try him again. Anyway, I think he was immensely brave for coming to the reunion, since he knew that his situation was a hot topic. I hugged him when he walked in and said I was glad he could make it. And that's really the only chance I had to talk to him all night! He was surrounded by people the whole time, and he looked like he was having a ball. I know he has been through a lot in the past few years, and our justice system says you are innocent until proven guilty, so he deserves to have a normal life again. I hope he had a good experience at the reunion, and that it encourages him to continue resuming his life. And that's about all I have to say about that.

I really couldn't be more pleased with the way things turned out. I only have a few regrets. I wish I had spent less time dancing and more time talking to everyone. I wish we had thought to take a class photo of all the attendees. I wish we had told people to go get seconds on the food, because not many people did and I think they would have.

So somewhere along the way, people kept asking me if we are going to do it again in five years, and I think I volunteered to organize it again. But now that we've done it once, it should be easier the next time around. Hopefully some of the people who couldn't or didn't attend this time around will hear what a great time it was, and try to be there. The one comment I heard the most all night was, "This is so great. This is so much fun! I'm so glad I came." Me too.