Last week was my 40th high school reunion.

This is the fourth reunion I have helped to organize. I am home now, tired, recovering, and pleased with how it came out.

A Weeklong Celebration

I figured out 11 years ago that a typical Fri-Sat-Sun reunion celebration would not be enough time.

I semi-crashed — but then was invited to — the 30th reunion for the class ahead of me. What I saw was that during every event (school tour, etc.), people were talking constantly, catching up and recalling memories of days’ past.

“People need more time to meet up,” I thought to myself, and for our 30th, I planned events for 6 days. That model worked, and we repeated it for our 40th.

True, many people would not be able to take that much time off to attend every event. But some did, and it gave people a lot more time to hang out, catch up, and relive old memories while making new ones.

Here are the events we planned:

• Pizza Party
• Karaoke Party
• Visit to the cemetery (to pay respects to too many classmates who have passed, late family members, and departed former teachers, and coaches
• A bowling party
• A tour of the high school
• A tour of a local distillery
• Dinner at a local restaurant/brewery
• Visit to a spectacular ocean park
• A 40th reunion prom (including former teachers invited as “chaperones”)
• Farewell lunch and cookout

It took a lot of planning and coordination with a bunch of people, and we pulled it off!