Attention MCHS Class of 1986

In approximately six months, we will mark the 30th anniversary of our graduation from MCHS, which means the time for another class reunion is quickly approaching.  I, for one, am looking forward to it, but it wasn't always this way.  I'd like to take a couple of minutes to explain why I skipped the early reunions, why I changed my mind, and throw out some ideas for making our 30th reunion a success.

Most of you know that I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school.  In the winter of 1990-1991, I ran into someone from my graduating class and asked her if we would be having a 5 year reunion.  Her response was something like "Well, some of us got together and talked about it.  We all kind of realized that none of us have our lives together, and we came to the conclusion that nobody else did either, so we decided to not have a 5 year reunion."  I was instantly pissed, and replied "Well, that's pretty fucking arrogant, don't you think?"  When it was time for our ten year reunion, that quote stuck with me, and I boycotted the reunion.  In essence, I took the comment of one classmate, applied it to my entire graduating class, and decided that I wanted nothing to do with any of them, with the exception of the few I kept close after high school.

When it was time for our 20th reunion, I had matured a bit and thought it would be fun to find out how my classmates had fared over time.  Unfortunately, I missed it.  I think I had a last-minute work conflict.  Over the next year or two after that, I started getting in touch with my classmates through Facebook.  Oddly enough, most of them reached out to me.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that most of them weren't the punk kids I knew as a teenager.  (I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that many of them were punk adults with attitudes quite similar to my own.)  I was happy to discover that most of us had grown up and moved past our petty high school selves.  I attended the 25th anniversary, had a great time, and connected with a few more classmates.

What I'm coming to, is that none of us are the same person we were in high school, and I suspect that a lot of our classmates didn't attend previous reunions because they erroneously assumed that it would be just like going back to MCHS.  If that's the case with you, I ask that you reconsider, and plan to attend our 30th reunion.  I'm not exactly sure when it will be, or what we'll do, but I can promise that, if it's anything like the 25th was, you will have fun.  You will see at least one person you didn't expect to see.  You'll experience at least one instance where you're surprised how much fun you had catching up with someone.  You'll be delighted to see how unlike high school it is.

To those organizing the event, (not sure who you are) I'd like to propose the following:

-Please don't hold the reunion over Memorial Day weekend, or the last week in July.  (Previous commitments would prevent me from attending.)

-Please send out as much notice as possible, so that our classmates can make vacation plans, travel plans, etc.

-I think another tour of the high school would be a blast!

-There is a bar in town owned by one of our own, and another bar in town owned by one of our relatives.  It would be really cool if we could hold an event at one of these places to show some love.

-If we do something upscale, please make sure to remind people that you need a head count, commitment and money well in advance.  Last time, the upscale plan fell through because people didn't commit and/or pay in a timely manner.

-Consider offering several alternatives and letting those who plan to attend help choose what we do.  This will help ensure maximum participation.

To those thinking about attending the event, I'd like to propose the following:
-Please speak up.  Let the organizers know if there's something specific you'd like to do, and/or if there's a specific time that's bad for you to attend.

-Please commit early and pay early if needed.  There were several people who said "I'm in," for one event last time, only to cancel at the last minute.  Some of these people stated money shortages.  We understand that life occurs, but with the advanced notice, people could have saved $0.50 per week and have been able to attend the big party.  Instead, organizers scrambled at the last second to come up with alternate activities.

To everyone:  We've reached the point in our lives where some of us are no longer around.  This is only going to get worse as we age.  Please don't let another reunion pass you by.  If you do so, you may miss your only chance to catch up with someone...