Twenty Year Statute of Limitations

After three attempts and a very shaky hand, I took a black Expo marker and wrote my name next to "Sophomore Class Treasurer" on the white board in Mr. Brown's classroom.  I have a horrible weakness in only trying out or auditioning for spots that are already pretty sure things but I had no idea about my chances of being elected treasurer.  My good friend, Kari, was very involved in student council and I was slightly jealous of her class officer status throughout freshman year.  Not being interested in accounting, budgeting, finance or banking, I suppose I chose the position of treasurer because no one very popular would be running against me.  It seemed my best chance of having student council success.

I was elected and my confidence in running for things grew.  At the end of my junior year, I decided to throw my hat in the ring for head honcho and try for Senior Class President.  I don't know about your high school elections, but ours were held during the day and were kind of set up like a sketch comedy show.  The goal of any candidate was to be the most entertaining and memorable show of the day and I stuck to what I knew and gave my speech while sitting at a grand piano bench, sing/talking my speech a la a lounge act while wearing a very tight sky blue tuxedo (I distinctly remember not wanting to stand up because those pants were like painted on).  Again, I was more interested in the status of the position than in actually leading any kind of high school government but after I won in large part because my opponent decided to give a real speech decrying meaningless, silly speeches (he was going after the serious voter, I guess, if such a thing exists in high school), I actually enjoyed student government.  I liked going to meetings and making decisions and...well...leading.

A HUGE downside of being senior class president at my alma mater is the tradition of that person being in charge of planning future class reunions.  I took the responsibility seriously and went about planning our ten year without the benefit of Facebook, Twitter or any kind of email list.  We graduated before email, after all.  I conducted the business of reuniting everyone the old fashioned way: paper and snail mail.

I hated it so much.  We lived in Spokane at the time and I had just had Sam and I knew the easiest thing would be to just say "meet at this bar on this day" and let the alcohol do all the work of planning something fun for me but being a non-drinker, I just couldn't.  No, I had to plan a night at the high school with refreshments and a family picnic at a park and an evening meal at a nice hotel with a cash bar.  I even made color copies of everyone's senior pictures from the yearbook and cut and pasted name tags by hand.  We had some money saved as a class after PROM and opened a bank account for the express purpose of having money for our ten year reunion. You'd think those sophomore class treasurer skills would have been useful but at the weekend's end, I was in the red and I lost personal money on the reunion.  It was nice to see a few old classmates but my memories of the weekend are not particularly fond ones.

Now, our twenty year reunion is approaching next year and within the past month,  I have seriously gotten a half-dozen inquiries about what I'm doing to plan it.  All have come from nice people but not anyone with whom I've stayed in touch or even anyone  who was a particularly close friend. They wonder what dates I've selected and if they can do anything to help.  I ignored the first two because they stressed me out and I just felt like it was so unnecessary to respond.  It's been twenty years people!  No seventeen year-old who wins and election because she plays Tea for Two in a blue tuxedo should have to organize a weekend gathering for hundreds of people she no longer knows, all while living almost a thousand miles away.  I think this should be obvious.

A few months ago, I wondered if I should send out a Facebook message reminding any former classmates who hadn't yet hidden me (I have hidden a lot of them so I try not to take it personally if I'm hidden) that I had said at the ten year that I was NOT planning the next one.  I decided that it was pretty presumptuous of me to think that sort of grand announcement was even necessary.  Surely those Bruin alumni who still live in my hometown would be saying, "I can't even remember who our senior class president was so I'll just get this thing going!"  Am I crazy to think so?  My husband, who also happened to be his senior class president and has never even been to one of his reunions even though we live in the town where he graduated, thinks it's insane that anyone would expect me to plan it.  My four siblings who have already had their twenty year reunions reassured me that they just sort of get planned by self-selected committee and I shouldn't feel responsible. I thought so too until the messages started.

I've responded each time that they (whoever sent the message) should plan it because they'd "do such a great job!"although with each subsequent message, I've had to include that so and so also contacted me and they should check with them before any major planning in case something has already been done.  The end result has left an unpleasant mood.  The multiple "Nope!  I'm not doing a thing!" responses have made me feel lame and flakey, like I am letting the class down in some way.  It's also made me very disinterested in attending anything that does eventually get planned.  Which is weird because I am one of the few that actually really liked high school.  So I search deeper.

Of course there are other reasons beyond simply not wanting to be the one in charge.  I don't want to go see a bunch of people I knew who knew me when I was seventeen and had six pack abs and Julia Roberts hair in my current state of significantly overweight with greying roots.  I also think Facebook has ruined a bit of the lure of high school reunions.  It's kind of embarrassing to admit here but some old friends have hurt my feelings by actively commenting or liking mutual friends statuses and pictures and totally ignoring mine.  I can't believe I just wrote that.  Hello insecure Facebook user.  It doesn't hurt all the time.  I don't see Facebook as an extension of high school but there are a few people who, in my memory, were my really good friends. And their Facebook snubbing is like a much more boring episode of Mean Girls.  On the other hand, I already know too much about other classmates, including their political leanings, alcohol drinking tendencies and whether or not they "like" Walmart or not.  I mean, what else it there to talk about at a reunion :)?  Still, I don't want to be one of those grouchy people who can't enjoy running into someone and reminiscing about a time when we were all younger and dumber.

Whatever happens with the reunion,  I think twenty years pardons any high school crime.  Especially those involving sky blue tuxedos and a girl singing the line, "If you want your time to be well spent/Vote Lucy for your class president!"