When a reunion goes right

This past weekend I attended a reunion of our high school marching band and auxiliary units in Lake Arrowhead (Rim of the World High School). True, it's not a your typical class reunion but it was so much better. It was a group of people spanning four years of high school that had all come together in the past for a similar purpose: the love of performing music and shows.

Your typical high school reunion is just people of your graduating class, you are all lumped together just because you were born in a certain year or have a certain educational qualification. You may have a lot of friends in your class, or you may have just a few with more friends in classes ahead of your behind you. In the long run, your class not by choice, therefore your class reunion may be a gathering of either a lot of people you hung out with or just a few. But band, ah, that is a different thing. We chose to be there and we all became close friends and eventually like a family after time. In band you spend a lot of time together in practice, performance, competition, and tours so you really get to know these people.

And after all the years (about 24 for me) it still felt like family. Some of the people who attended the reunion I had seen in the past couple years or so and some I had not seen since high school. Yet, it still felt so natural. It still seemed like family and we had all turned out pretty darn good. Even our band director, Brian Fox, turned up and it was like he had not aged a bit. It was an entire weekend of activities that was very enjoyable and fun. There was not the stress of "I have to look rich and hot" or "I cannot go because I gained weight". It was just old friends getting together because we enjoy each others company. There was no feeling of competition or dread you sometimes feel with class reunions.

I guess my whole point here is that, for me, joining groups is very personal and sometimes a difficult process. I do not take joining groups lightly and want to make sure I'm committing my time and energy to something that benefits myself as well as the group and that I will not tire or bore of. So I'm a bit of a group-joining-phobic because it has been difficult to rival such a group as the 82-86 Rim High Marching Scots. But I'm learning, there are groups out there and I'm slowly overcoming my mild phobia. I have learned that it is ok to shop around for the group that is just right for me and I don't have to join a group just to join a group or because "it's the right thing to do". Finding the right group, whether it be social or business, is like a courtship, and you have to go on a few "dates" before you find the right one!