Sunday, March 30, 2008

Who has a 12-year Reunion?

The THS Class of 1996, that's who!

Yes, we're the class that HAS to be different! We just had our 12-year reunion last night because we couldn't get it together to have a 10-year back in 2006. We're also the class that had a 5-year reunion back in 2001.

All in all, the reunion went pretty well. The food was very yummy! I wasn't expecting much at all (invitation said hors d'oeuvres), but was pleasantly surprised to see a nice selection of Subway sandwiches, nachos and meatballs, in addition to your typical fruit, veggie and cheese spread. There was also a cash bar, but I only drank non-alcoholic beverages since someone had to be the designated driver (yes, Shad had a few).

My biggest complaint, though, was that the music was WAY TOO LOUD! It was a REUNION, not a high school dance! It made it difficult to carry on a conversation and catch up with everyone. I managed to get a few tidbits of info from a few people, but not nearly enough. It was nice seeing so many people that I hadn't seen in at least 7 years (since our 5 year reunion). Some of the others, I hadn't seen in 12 years!!!

I think I did *okay* about remembering most everyone. Out of about 30-40 of us that showed up, there was 1 person that I didn't even know back in high school. Then, there were approximately 3-5 people that I knew and recognized, but drew a blank on their names. Then, there were about 3 people who I knew back in high school, but didn't recognize last night. Oops! Talk about feeling horrible! It probably would've helped to pull out my year books, but they're buried in our garage closet under a mound of boxes and storage bins and we'll only get to them once we tackle the project of organizing that room. I don't know what we were thinking when we put our memento storage bins ON THE VERY BOTTOM!

What really helped me tremendously was that I've been able to reconnect with several old friends and classmates via Facebook and MySpace. Without those sites, I'm pretty sure I would've done a lot worse at remembering everyone!!!

The biggest surprise for me was when one of our old teachers made an announcement asking for donations for a new auditorium. Apparently, the ceiling in the current auditorium COLLAPSED back in 2006! Thank God it happened on a Wednesday evening when nobody was in there at the time! It broke seats, so I can only imagine how bad it would've gotten had there been people in there! It's so sad to think that that auditorium is no longer there. :( My senior year, when we were in the process of getting a new, state-of-the-art band room, the auditorium was our make-shift home. We ended up having 3 band rooms that year: the old one, the auditorium and then the new one. However, the majority of the school year was spent in the auditorium. Sure, it wasn't a very good band room, but it holds memories. Our former teacher is asking each graduating class to donate at least $250 (the cost of 1 chair). I'm hoping our class is able to acheive that goal. If we do, we'll get a plaque on the back of the chair with our class year noted on it.

While Shad and I were gone, Christopher spent the night with Granddaddy in Nashville. They sure had a blast together! They ate a pizza dinner at Chuck E. Cheese where Christopher had fun playing games and riding rides. Afterward, they went to visit the fish tank at The Aquarium (a restaurant in Opry Mills Mall). Christopher left there with a stuffed dolphin that wiggles its tail and sounds like it's blowing bubbles when you press a button. On Sunday morning, they went to Granddaddy's church, went to McDonald's for lunch and then came home. Since he only got about a 30-minute nap while on the drive home, he was quite the monster this evening at church (well, at least while I was in the room with him...he did much better after I left, go figure)! He didn't waste any time at all going to sleep at bedtime!

So, that pretty much sums everything up. I'll leave you with a few pictures:


The Banquet Room


The Dance Floor...yep, that's chess pieces


Shad and me


My friend, Heather, and me


Group Shot