Sometimes, I can’t believe that it’s been 35 years since I graduated from high school. A lot of people from my class settled in the area, and I run into quite a few of them all the time. But it is nice to see people from far away come in and reminisce about days gone by every now and then.
This past July, I helped organize my high school class reunion. I always seem to be on the committee to do this, but I enjoy it because I had a lot of friends in high school.
In prior reunions, we either had a sit-down dinner or a buffet-style for the big event, but with food prices skyrocketing over the past few years, the committee voted to try something different this time around – “pay as you go”. You pay for your own drinks, you order and pay for your own appetizer, you pay for your own dinner at one of the resort’s restaurants (we held the event at the Oceanplace Resort & Spa in Long Branch).
For the sake of simplicity, the committee used their Facebook and e-mail contacts to get the word out as early as possible and posted information on the class’ Facebook page, too. It went really well. We had roughly 35-40 class members attend this year, a few whom I hadn’t seen since high school graduation. I guess that’s one of the beauties of reunions – you never know just who’s going to show up. A good portion of the local crowd was there as well, and although I always see them around town when I’m out and about, it just seems special when they come in for one night and hang with everyone else.
Our 35th was a far cry from our first reunion back in 1982. Our 5-year reunion at the Oak Tree Lodge was a catered affair and cost under $20 a person. The lodge was great. It had a huge field for playing volleyball and softball, and there was a pool for everyone to use, too.
Usually at a 5 or 10-year reunion, everyone is “jockeying for position” in both the job market and in life, so for everyone, there’s lots of chatter and a load of catching up to do all at the same time, maybe even some networking, too.
One of my most memorable reunions was the 10-year reunion. We had a sit-down dinner at the Squire’s Pub with a two-hour open bar at the start of the reunion. So many bellies pressed up against that bar, trying to get a drink before the cash registers opened. It was pretty funny. But it was memorable, because we had Cats On A Smooth Surface as our band that night. I would have paid the $40 just to see them.
Another reason why this one was so memorable was because about a month after the reunion, I proposed to my girlfriend, who’s now been my wife for the past 25 years.
The reunion was planned to end around 11PM that evening, but most of the people were gone by around 10:30. Tired but happy, I left the resort with my wife beside me, spitballing ideas on what we could do the next time around.
I guess that’s just the committee member in me, always thinking. . .
(The entire Jersey Shore Retro Blogography can be found at http://longbranch.patch.com/blogs/kevin-cieris-blog. You can also follow Kevin Cieri's blog on his Facebook page, "Jersey Shore Retro" as well as on Twitter @jsretro).
