You are free, you just don't know it yet.

Anyone remember the saying:

'Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part'?

My old hair dresser back in the day used to have that sign hanging in her basement shop. She was very strict on late appointments and frequent call offs.That was a long, long time ago but I sincerely believe that those words still ring true today. So where are you going with this, you may ask.

This year, marks my tenth year out of high school. It truly doesn't feel like it's been that long. Some days, I still feel very much like a child, albeit, a child with a hell of a lot of bills and 3 children herself. I watch Degrassi and Instant Star and can totally relate to some of the story lines. The point is I don't feel like ten years has gone by since I walked the halls to French class or to Ms. Battle's college writing classes. I'm kind of getting off subject a bit..Sorry.

So, I heard through the grapevine that a group of girls (that hung out together in high school) appointed themselves as head of the reunion committee. They didn't invite anyone with experience or the know how to join the aforementioned committee. Surprise, surprise.

Planing a party of this size takes months and months of organized planing. It takes experience and dedication but most of all it takes someone who can think outside of their own small world. The people who tried to put on my class reunion obviously had none of those things.

When you wait until November to send out an email blast stating that we need to send in a deposit for the reunion, even though you haven't given us any information on the when and the where, that constitutes a problem.

When you send out these emails with everyone of the addresses showing--instead of sending it bcc, that to me is problem. Everybody may not want everyone else to have their email information. It's just a professional courtesy.

I'm not sure if these girls are living in the same world that I am but gas is $4.17 here, and the price of plane tickets and car rentals are though the roof. In other words we a living in a recession, and people don't have hundreds of dollars to spend just to go to a high school reunion.

Communication is key, you can't accomplish anything when person 'A' thinks person 'B' is doing something and person 'C' thought they were supposed to do it, but in actuality 'D' did it because her heard from 'B' that 'C' didn't know how to do it. Confused? Yeah me too. That's all I saw in this short lived attempt to put together an over the top extravaganza.

By the time an itinerary did come out, they scheduled something for Friday night in one city, a cruise Saturday night in another and then close it up with another event on Sunday. All fine and dandy if you still live in the area, or have family in the area. I don't. so that means on top of buying plane tickets and event tickets I would have had to rent a car and get a hotel room. Plus, remember I have three kids...where are they going to go? A babysitter, or on the trip with us? I added up the total amount I would have had to spend and let's just say it was over a thousand dollars! I could go to Cancun or Disneyland and spend less then that.

There are plenty of alternatives I could have suggested. Like, have a BBQ at one of the hundreds of lakes in the area. Rent a VFW hall and have a cabaret type of event. Or, just have done one of the events originally planned. If the purpose of a reunion is to see everyone and catch up on old times, then all that extra wasn't necessary in the first place. I find it quite comical that one of the more affluent high schools near my Alma mater is doing a simple picnic, charging $10 or so per person. A school where I personally know that some of the graduates are doctors and lawyers and engineers.....Now, I'm not saying my class doesn't have any of those but...

To be honest, even if I still lived in the area I probably wouldn't go to the reunion. I've kept in touch with all my friends from high school. Everyone I care about--what their doing, how they are or what's going on their world...I can pick up the phone and just call. They know where I am, what I'm up to etc...because they are my friends. What's funny is none of them had planned to attend the reunion either.

So, the other day I hear through the grapevine that the reunion is cancelled. Due to lack class support....humm

Another quote comes to mind "Champagne plans on a Boone's Farm budget."