My 10 year high school reunion is coming up this year in the fall. I can believe that it's been ten years already, the expression "I can't believe it's been ten years" doesn't even apply to me now. It seems to be all the same nonsense now that it was back then. It shouldn't be this difficult to organize however I've done my share of event planning and I know all the work that goes into getting an event put together. When I've done my events I've usually done them all by myself but have had a pretty good turn out regardless.
At first I was very involved, inviting everyone I knew to the reunion page and keeping up in current conversations, looking up lots of information, throwing out all sorts of ideas and then came the voting for the place to have the reunion. I didn't have a problem with the place because in my opinion it was probably the best choice. What I did have a problem with is that not many of our graduating class ever had the opportunity to give their ideas on a place for the event or had the opportunity to vote on a place to have the reunion.
Then once the place was chosen I was looking through their website menu, which, of course, doesn't accommodate my diet. So I asked more about the menu on the reunion page before I knew that you would have three menu options; choice between salad A and salad B, then a main dish choice between A, B, C, D and E, then a side choice for your vegetable. None of these options accommodate me. I believe by my asking about the menu made it clear that I was unhappy with the options. If it was all buffet style I know I would have an easier chance to find something to eat however it will not be buffet style which means the meal will already be pre-chosen for me. Even my suggestion of catering in some food from a place that has more vegetarian and vegan options seems to of been passed over. It's such a shame that I'm probably the only vegan in my graduating class however I'm sure that I'm not the only one who doesn't want to be forced into choosing a meat protein as their main dinner.
So the fact that the reunion page only has about 180 alumni and quite a lot more who can be contacted and participate bothers me. No, I wasn't about to do all the work contacting everyone because I am not a part of the committee organizing all of this. Why should it be like high school all over again and I do all the work with out any credit. That's how I felt last night while trying to figure out why on earth I'm so frustrated about everything.
Another item that bothers me is that there will be people there who I just down right don't care to see and I'm sure that they really don't care to see me either. I do want to see people, in fact quite a few people. So I've thought about the idea of having a pre-reunion / non-reunion reunion party get together either the day before or the morning of or sometime around the actual reunion. A time when all of us will in the area but not all of us are attending. In fact, who says that we all have to be from the same year graduating class. Why not invite a bunch of us who were friends and still are together to hang out and not worry about the reunion?! Why not?!
I have no idea what it costs to reserve this location and have thought about calling the place myself and getting information. I'm sure they would be happy to tell me if it would mean that they would be getting my business in the future. After all, if my brother get's married then I'll need to reserve a location for reception after the ceremony. It's a valid reason to figure out why on earth the ticket price is so high per person. Right now money is going to be tight because my husband and I are in the middle of moving. Every penny must go towards moving expenses and furnishing the new house once we're settled. I just can't justify spending money on something that I won't be able to fully enjoy. I can't eat all the food, in fact, probably none of it, there will be people who I just don't care to see who will be there. The "open bar" has confusion around it because I've heard it two ways, open bar and open bar with it turning into a cash bar. If it is an open bar say that is what it is, if it is a cash bar don't say or list it as an open bar. You don't want people coming to the reunion thinking their money pays for them to be able to drink for free and it turns out that they have to pay to be able to drink.
I know that you can't please everyone, in fact I know that some people already mentioned that if it is at a hall or in the fall that they will not be coming. That is fine. For some reason the past two years I was looking forward to the ten year reunion, thinking it of a fun time to see everyone, an excuse to get together and catch up. The fact is that I already have gotten back in touch with most everyone who I cared to see at the reunion already online, places like myspace and facebook. Because of that reason I don't see as large of a reason for me to attend my own ten year high school reunion. Many people don't go.
That will be the end of this rant for now. I find it aggravating that something ridiculous like this could keep me up at night and cause me to lose precious hours of sleep. Now off to more important things, like cleaning the dishes and spending time with my husband.
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