Can I get an amen?

And also 6 more reservations?

Happy Friday Webbites. As promised, I am publishing our current list.  I am thrilled with reservations to date.  However, I really want to get to 50% attendance and set a Webb record.  We need 6 more classmates to attend.  Just 6 more. 

Thanks to all of you who have replied with your good excuses.  And also your weak, lame, pathetic excuses.  Just kidding.  Please know that I am a gracious coordinator and will allow late bookings.  Do it now!  This weekend!

I know what you are thinking,"I see the people I want to see all the time."  But look at this list of fabulous friends.  Who knows where we will be in 10 years, or twenty, or thirty.  You might never see this group again. Can you really miss out?

For those already registered - thank you for devoting your resources of time and money to our gathering.  I am incredibly grateful.  Please check your registration below and email me any errors noted.  I apologize for the format.   I only have time to copy and paste tonight and my lovely excel format is not copying.  Also, I quickly slammed in maiden names, so spelling errors will be corrected in advance of nametags, etc.

			Webb Tailgate	Webb Lunch	Gettysvue Reunion Dinner
Carla		Ainsworth	0	1	1
Christy	Church	Andrews	2	0	1
Alex		Apking	0	0	1
Tasnima		Apol	0	0	2
Elizabeth	Lucas	Averett	2	0	2
Shannon	Muse	Baxter	2	3	2
Freddie		Brabson	0	0	1
Tom		Call	0	0	2
Jono		Cohen	0	1	1
Jacki	Royston	Collins	0	0	2
Anessa		Counce	1	0	1
Mimi	Addicks	Decker	4	4	2
Amanda		Durand	0	0	1
Josh		Feinman	0	3	2
Sara	Maull	Foster	0	0	2
Robert		Gowder	0	0	1
Sherif & Alexis	Wade	Guindi	0	0	2
Laura	Bennett	Hague	3	3	2
Michael		Hanna	0	0	1
Matt		Haralson	4	0	0
Deloris	Gulley	Hobson	2	0	2
Arthur		Jenkins	4	4	2
Dana	Goolsbsy	Jones	2	2	2
Amanda		Keller	2	0	2
Rebecca	Stanley	Larson	0	0	1
Tom		Leavy	0	0	1
Kim	Johnson	Ledgerwood	0	0	2
Jennie	Chapman	Linthorst	0	0	1
Robin	Reagan	Loveday	4	0	2
Gaelan		Luhn	0	0	2
Brent		Midyett	0	0	2
Chad		Mitchell	0	0	2
Bill		Oldham	0	0	2
Callie	McClain	Pfeifer	4	3	2
Drew		Reeves	2	2	2
Keith		Rivers	0	0	1
Tiffany	Wheeler	Salvilla	0	0	2
Susannah	Conley	Sayre	2	3	2
Bryan		Schneider	0	0	1
David		Seger	2	2	2
Robbie		Smith	0	0	2
Daniel & Whitney	Muse	Webb	2	0	2
Jennifer	Warner	Wilhelm	0	0	2
Bay		Willingham	2	0	2
Charley		Wilson	2	2	2
Emmie	Jones	Winslow	2	0	2
Theresa	Demers	Wyatt	0	0	2
		Totals	50	33	78

Now we're talking!

Do you remember Webb's rotating schedule?  On Monday, our 7 class "periods" were in order 1-7, but each day after that, we started at a new number and worked up to 7 and then started again at 1?  Even after years of following this program and usually showing up where I was supposed to be, it sometimes tripped me up.  In particular, I can recall planning to do homework during study hall and turn it in later that day, only to realize I had the schedule wrong and study hall fell AFTER my homework was due.

That's how I feel today.  You guys have done an amazing job registering and reserving.  We have 47 classmates (plus some dates for a total of 75) scheduled to attend various events.  And many more RSVPs that I need to record so that we don't keep calling the same folks.  But I just got back from a last minute trip, and the girls start school tomorrow.  My goal is to dig back in on Friday and send out confirmations and lists.  Wouldn't it be great if 3 of you registered today so that we could be at 50 by Friday?

I spoke with David Seger about hotel rooms.  He is happy to research group rates and suggests that we start immediately.  Labor Day weekend will be a busy one in Knoxville with UT's season opener, and many other big events (especially ours!).  Please email me if you are interested in talking to David about group hotel rates.

See you Friday with a list.  Are you tingling with anticipation?

Why am I so cranky?

I am having a cranky morning.  My mood could have something to do with today's deadline.  As I mentioned in a previous post, deadlines get me down.  It could also be the heat.  I chose to come to Florida in August.  Draw your own conclusions as to my intelligence.  (And the majority of you voted for a labor day reunion in TN, so you might be a bit lacking in the brains as well.)

I am cheered by so many registrations and reservations.  Thank you!  I will update the online list as soon as I return to my home computer.  Just know that there is a big difference between a registration and a reservation.  Reunion manager is a clunky website.  Although we are having much better luck with it than the Bearden Class of 1991 (they were only able to buy one ticket per person until the glitch was fixed), this site is a bit tricky to administer.  The main difficulty is that once you register, it defaults to "yes" for attending.  So if you register and don't buy tickets, I don't know if you registered but aren't coming (a great thing to do for database purchases) or if you think you bought tickets but didn't press "buy now."  What to do?   When I get to my home computer, I will send confirmations for all ticket purchases.  If you don't get a confirmation, you didn't press "buy now."

I am also a bit frustrated because I am getting asked to extend the deadline.  The real question is why should I extend the deadline?  Why can't classmates decide?  Is it that you cannot afford your reunion ticket in the same month you paid for your plane ticket (legit excuse!), that you are desperately trying to work out this or that conflict or travel detail (also legit!) or that you just can't decide whether you want to walk down memory lane or sit this one out.  I suspect that many classmates fall in this later category.

Here's the deal on the planning end...our buying power, and thus the details with Gettysvue, vary greatly at 40 total, verses 50 or 60.  As the numbers changes, I basically have to re-plan our evening - a great deal of extra work.  You guys are worth it, but please make sure your reasoning is sound before you use my time in this way.  If you need another week, that's fine.  (If you can't hear my passive-aggressive sigh, you aren't listening hard enough.)

Feathers

Recently, my girls had feathers put in their hair.  I don’t think they were aware of the feathers trend.  At least they hadn't mentioned it.  We were at the hair salon, and Macy asked my stylist and friend, Kim, to dye a section of her hair purple.  I wasn’t ready for my five year old to permanently alter her hair color.  Kim suggested feathers and everyone was happy.

Now I see these feathers everywhere.  And they got me to thinking about trends.  We certainly were not immune to trends at Webb.  The earliest “must have” that I can recall were Davey’s purses.  Does anyone remember these?  Davey’s bags bore a brass plague and you sent away for initial stickers.  I think this was after Papagallo but before high-tops.

Remember the dominance of rugby shirts from Coke and Benetton (and later Pepsi but that was sort of sad)?  Remember those chunky socks from the Limited?  And the colored sashes that we tied in big bows before the Webb uniform rules were revamped?

 

What trend was your favorite?

Did the guys have trends and what were they?

What do you remember about the Webb uniform and the rule changes?

Are your feet still sore from wearing Jellies?

ONE MONTH AND COUNTING, MY FRIENDS!  WOO-HOO!

Book Review

Clearly I have been blogging too much.  I am about to discuss books.  Who do I think I am?  Oprah?  What's next?  A favorite things list?  Good grief.

Actually, these aren't my favorite books or even books I would necessarily recommend.  Rather, they are books that fed into my "high school on the brain" mentality.

Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand is a fictionalized story of a Ruth Madoff-like character named Meredith Delinn.  Meredith is quite sympathetic (like I said, FICTION) in her need to escape from scrutiny and transition to the next, drastically different, stage of her life.  As Meredith and her friend Connie prepare Connie for her first date after becoming a widow, Meredith says, "This is high school all over again."  "'That's what life is,' Connie said, 'It's high school, over and over again.'"  Huh?  Well, it sure beats middle school over and over again.

 

And I am off and on with Alexandra Robbins, The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School.  The title pretty much says it all, but you can also check out the NYTimes book review.  The author introduces her bias early with a wonderful quote from J.K. Rowling - "Nothing is more unnerving to the truly conventional that an unashamed misfit."

Robbins argues that teens really need to know that adolescence is temporary, Hilderbrand's characters think it lasts forever.  What do you think?

Returning to the scene of the crime

I want to start this post by pointing out the new feature on our page.  I am now keeping a somewhat updated list of reservations.  It is growing fast!

And I also want to thank the classmates that helped determine our Sunday night location – Theresa Demers Wyatt, Susannah Conley Sayre, Arthur Jenkins, Alexis Wade Guindi and Tiffany Wheeler Salvilla met, researched, discussed, visited…and really dug into many options in Knoxville.  When the group settled on Gettysvue, Tiffany and Alexis met with a catering coordinator to set the preliminary menu and pricing.  I was super helpful during this whole process, offering such sage advice as “whatever you guys think,” and chiming in with “that sound great.  Thanks!”  What leadership.

So when the final decision was Gettysvue, I was a bit crushed.  Don’t you worry.  Gettysvue is lovely, perfect really.  But my darling husband Andy, who graduated from Farragut in 1988, had his 20^th reunion there a few years ago.  And it wasn’t our best date ever. 

True confessions:

Andy made me cocktail before we left for the party.  As usual, it was very weak.  I am a complete light weight.  And when we got to Gettysvue, he bought me another.  I immediately sensed that the second drink was going to my head and stopped drinking, but it was too late.  I am not sure of ingredients here.  We may have had gin instead of my usual vodka…this is important because…

I was missing some key information at this point.  I hadn’t yet been diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  Yes, gluten is my kryptonite.  But I didn’t know that.  One reason I was hard to diagnose – many celiacs are discovered because wheat makes them crazy.  Not me, though.  At least, not until that night.  Never have I felt so angry.  It was scary!

I managed to keep it between the lines at the reunion, although I can imagine that I wasn’t a stellar conversationalist.  The car trip home was UGLY.  I am reminded of Bennie, a character from the book I am currently reading, A Visit From the Goon Squad.  Bennie torments himself by revisiting moments of terrible humiliation.  Rather than shoving the memory away or suppressing it, Bennie dives straight in and suffers through it.  Poor Bennie.

Anyway, I have been relatively sane since going gluten free.  There was an incident with some “calming tea” (it had barley malt) that I managed to survive.   Oh, the irony.  Andy and I can laugh about all of this.  And I feel okay about returning to Gettysue.  Deep breathing will help.  Just please, for goodness sake, don’t slip me any bread!

Green Alligators & Long-Necked Geese

Each June my extended family vacations together in Hilton Head, and we have many beach traditions.  The children are particularly fond of the Gregg Russell show in Harbour Town.  For those of you unfamiliar with Gregg, he is a “rock star” to the Hilton Head crowd.  For the past 36 years, Gregg has performed almost every summer night under a beautiful oak tree that has survived many storms and hurricanes.  Families dress up in their beach best - Lilly Pulitzer, hair bows, seersucker, smocking galore - and arrive early to get the kids good seats on the stage.

Lucy sings for Gregg and the crowd in 2007.

Because our rentals are in Harbor Town, we don’t have to drive in and plan our evening around Gregg.  We just walk out the door.   This can be good, but it can also be very, very bad.  For many years, my sister and I have taken the kids to “see Gregg”  four or five nights out of seven.  We have a frighteningly deep knowledge of his jokes and songs.  We MIGHT be a bit jaded about the whole thing.  Yet I still get chills when he sings the opening song.  "I love this harbor, and it means so much to me..."

After Gregg sings and gabs, he picks children to sing.  For the kids, this is both an honor and a rite of passage.  The younger ones usually sing “Itsy, Bitsy Spider” or “Twinkle, Twinkle.”  As kids get older, they might chose to perform “Take me out to the ballgame” or the fight song for their parents’ favorite team.  Right about the age that a child might sing an awkward version of a pop hit, or throw in some alarming dance moves, they transition to a new group – too old to sing; time to lead hand motions.   The regulars know the hand motions to several songs.  They practice to his CDs.  They are ready to be chosen.

Imagine my joy this year after sending Lucy, Macy and their cousins to the stage and taking my regular seat with my sis on the steps, to be rushed by non-other than Shannon Muse Baxter and her mom, Geri.  We have never overlapped vacation weeks, but the Muses moved their whole schedule around so that they could be in Knoxville for our reunion.  (That is devotion.  That is loyalty.  That should motivate you to show up.)

Shannon and I barely had time to chat before the show started.  But it was easy for me to pick out the Baxter girls.  They look just like Shannon (and their Christmas card photos).   I was so excited when Gregg Russell chose Meg Baxter to demonstrate “Green Alligator.”  She totally killed.

Shannon was pregnant with Meg at our ten year reunion.  She was healthy and glowing, stunning really, albeit chagrined to attend our event well past the baby-bump stage.  Watching Meg, I could literally SEE how much time has passed.  I was just buying her baby gifts and now she has two arms, two legs, can walk and talk and do a mean green alligator.  AMAZING.

Time is flying by.  Yes, reunion planning gives me a heightened sense of time, but the last ten years passed in an instant - ten trips to the beach, possibly 40+ Gregg Russell shows and Meg Baxter’s entire life.  I felt so blessed to have this unexpected time with Shannon, and to be present when Meg made a memory.  I can’t wait to see them again.

For those of you who need an extra dose of cute, you can check out Macy singing with Gregg in 2010.