PART 1 - The Picnic - 10 Years... Class of 1999 Reunion - August 1, 2009

THIS WILL BE A TWO PART ENTRY - CLASS REUNION AUGUST
OME! It has already been 10 years. A decade has passed since I graduated from High School. The past few months have been a huge planning session for me. My class decided that we did want to celebrate 10 years. Some how I was roped into being the lead dog on this chase. Well for some they might have shied away from the process, not me. Those who know about my travel agendas/books, my need for control, my type-A personality, my love of everything sentimental and my thirst for creating something fun will not be at all surprised when you see the pictures from the event.

Getting in touch with everyone proved the most difficult part of the process, but once addresses had been established, dates set, and the tone adjusted I was rolling right along discovering new things about old friends.
Ten years is a long time to do many things in life. My classmates have spent those years well. There is not a single person who participated in the events that I am not proud of. They all are so extraordinary. The comaraderie that we had growing up permeated the day as though 10 years had been really just 10 minutes from our last senior party. There were no cliques, no separation of this group or that group. Wives & husbands flitted amongst us as though they had known us all their lives. That speaks highly to the people we all chose to spend our lives with.
We were blessed to see the images of our own youth reflecting in children running around naked, hungry, or sliding on a slipNslide for fun. I watched men who had just been boys when I last saw them, carry a child as comfortably as they once carried a football. Women who were last seen as giggling young ladies stood deftly handled multiple children and their husbands with grace & love.

The summer heat beat down on us at the Picnic but laughter & memories won the battle. We stood and talked about what we do now, we all were getting reacquainted and ready to reminisce even more at the evening festivities. For a few hours children became friends - never really realizing that the adults around them have been friends for a life time, not knowing that these people their parents were laughing & joking with were people they had once played with at picnics & on slipNslides. It is a beautiful thought that one day these children might be as close as we are...
Enjoy the snapshots of the day