The Mom-inator

The Twenty-Year Reunion...

I have been informed that my 20-year High School reunion will be taking place on September 16th, 2006 at the Beverly Center Hard Rock Cafe. Cocktails (not a hosted bar) will be served at 7:00pm, with dinner to follow at 8:00pm. Cocktail attire is required for this gathering. Tickets are $85.00 a piece, and the graduate receives a free class bio book.

How do I feel about this? When I graduated high school I didn't walk across the stage with my friends. I took the GED a few months earlier because of some things that happened when I was a senior causing me to fall behind, and having passed it, I had more than enough credits to walk the stage with my friends...I opted not to, and silently faded away into obscurity and life. I went to college, took culinary classes on the side, worked on my MSW...got married, had Deanna, got divorced, dropped out of grad school, worked as a sous chef, took a lover or two, spent a few lost years in between it all, and then I met Ken, and we got married and moved to Atlanta, then we had Jackson, and I have been the happiest I've ever been in my life since then. I have no regrets in my life, but I also remember that high school was super-clique-y, and I didn't go to my ten-year reunion because I didn't really want to see anyone; I couldn't care less at that point. Well, it's been 20 years now, and while I'm content and happy in my life, I still feel that there are only about four or so people that I really want to connect with from High School, and so buying two plane tickets, plus the reunion tickets, plus a hotel room, plus.....the end just doesn't justify the means. I'd rather fly to LA and have a small dinner party with these four people and their spouses...that to me makes more sense.

SO what do I do? Are these people that I would be friends with on a regular basis? Do we have anything in common? Do we have the same values and morals? I live a very Southern lifestyle; I respect those around me, I believe in politeness and manners, I don't worship the dollar bill or what it represents, instead I appreciate the value of it and am happy to be able to earn it. I'm not superficial, and to me not getting my nails done isn't the end of the world. I just keep them trimmed and clean, with a coat of clear polish over them. I shop at Old Navy instead of Macy's, I go to Garden Ridge instead of Linen's and Things, I actually LIKE Target! Grilling with friends is done in the backyard, and we eat at a table that's set with plastic cups and plates instead of having our cook-out catered. If I don't tweeze my eyesbrows for a few weeks, it's NOT a big deal! I haven't been home to California since I left, and I have no desire to because of the mentality of the natives...In Atlanta I'm upper-middle-class, in LA, I'd be considered dirt-poor because I don't live beyond my means, and I drive a car that I own out-right. We actually have money in our savings account, and don't have credit card bills. We actually use cash to buy things, and if we don't have the cash, we don't need the thing we're looking to buy until we have the cash for it!

Maybe I'm assuming that these people from High School have the California champagne tastes when they really don't. Maybe I'm being harsh and critical because a lot of these people were just assholes in High School. Maybe I'm just trying to talk myself out of going because I don't want to spend the money, when it's the weekend of mine and Ken's wedding anniversary, and we've been planning on going on a cruise to Bermuda instead. But I have to admit...I AM curious.

My only real gripe is this: did the planning committee really have to pick the Hard Rock??? The food there sucks, and parking at the Beverly Center is even worse, valet or not! The least they could have done was host the bar for the cocktail hour...unless people are still drinking like we're in high school?

We'll see what I decide.

posted by Alley @ 1:55 PM