Reunion Recap Part I

Last weekend, my high school class (Alhambra High School class of 1964) celebrated our 50^th reunion. After working more-than-full-time for a year-and-a-half locating nearly all of the nearly 600 class members, and coordinating with the rest of the committee, all our hard work came to fruition.

After picking up a friend and classmate at the train station at 11:30 on Thursday night, we got to bed around midnight.

Friday morning began at 6:00 when Larry and I left to get the decorations chair for a trip to the wholesale flower mart to pick up our flowers and floral supplies. Before we left home, we loaded the van with about twenty boxes of material to deliver to the hotel along with our floral purchases. Even with the extra-long van, we barely had room for everything and three of us.

After reaching the hotel, we unloaded the van, dropped off the floral designer, and then returned home to shower and change.

We took time for lunch with my friend, who had arrived the night before, at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Olamendi’s in Capistrano Beach. The owners, our neighbor and friend, gave us our fabulous lunch as a birthday gift for me since the actual date had been the previous week. It pays to have wonderful friends!

We loaded the remaining twenty-plus cartons and boxes, plus our own suitcases, once again filling every corner of the van. Then we were on our way back to the hotel where we unloaded the boxes and checked in.

The ‘official’ event began on Friday night with an informal get-together. Estimates of the attendance that night were between 70 and 80. We filled the lounge and spilled over onto the terrace. We didn’t have nametags for this evening, but part of the fun was becoming re-acquainted with old friends. Thank goodness for Facebook! Those of us active on that site had seen current photos of each other making recognition much easier.

This was the time when we could have longer, more in-depth conversations which the big banquet event on Saturday would not allow.

Many hugs and kisses and warm reconnections happened throughout the room. Every face showed a smile. Some people who weren’t good friends in school discovered they now shared common interests. New friendships were born.

We left around ten o’clock to go to bed, but the party continued. I’m not sure exactly when the last of the celebrants finally gave up for the night.

We went to breakfast the next morning to find several of my friends already eating. Once again, we enjoyed conversations and reconnections.

We checked on the team putting together the centerpieces. They had done an amazing job!

We greeted arriving class members in the lobby for a while.Then we went to the banquet room to see to the setup. From that point on, most of the day was spent coordinating with the staff to make sure everything was where it belonged, placing the centerpieces, and other decorations on the tables, arranging the memorabilia and artwork we had brought with us. (Other committee members were in charge of receiving and arranging the material brought by others before and during the banquet.)

Next, we set up the table for registration.

The week before, several committee members had come to our house to assemble the packets and sort them alphabetically. The final count of classmates scheduled to attend was 127, and we prepared several extras for any who arrived the night of the reunion. The final count, with those who were unable to attend plus those who registered at the door, was 126 classmates, for a total of 193 including guests. We nearly packed the twenty tables of ten.

After showering and changing quickly, we returned for the social hour prior to the start of the banquet.

Next week, I’ll talk about all the events of the evening.

Have you ever attended a high school reunion? Did you enjoy it? I certainly enjoyed mine!