A 25-Year Class Reunion - The Real Question: What’s Next?
In the past two weeks, while becoming more active on Facebook, a classmate informed me that our 25th reunion was in the works (Class of ’85) for 2010. During this time I’ve probably viewed dozens, if not hundreds of current pictures of classmates, read dozens of their status posts and watched slide-shows of my former friends and classmates on Facebook. Not to mention scads of scans of old photos from grade school and high school. With all of that online and available, I wondered if a reunion was really necessary, in our new age of digital reminiscence.
At our 20 year reunion, just four years ago, we already did the social catch-up thing. So now, thanks to both Facebook and some past reunions, we already know how fat some people have gotten, how much hair some people have lost, who has kids, who has implants, who lives where, who is divorced and how many times, who died, who was born again and all the rest. The passage of time has meant that we all celebrated our 40th birthday a couple years ago and, for the most part, our lives are underway. You have gone to college, or not, you have likely selected your “career path,” you may have purchased a house or two, you have probably had children, and some of you may even have grandchildren. The only real question that matters to me today is; What’s next?
If we set aside the past twenty four years of “life” that’s happened to us all, and look from here out, what does your future look like? What are your expectations and what dreams or goals remain unfulfilled? Can you, in the immortal words of the legendary band The Replacements, “Look me in the eye and tell me ‘I’m Satisfied’”? I wish there were a website that made it as easy to share future goals and ambitions as Facebook makes it to relive past glory days. My suggestion, start with five targets for the next five years and a total of ten if you want to go ten years out, like I have here:
1. Learn Boating and Ocean Navigation
2. Spend no less than two weeks in Ireland/Isle of Man
3. Live outside North America for at least three months
4. Buy a cottage or condo in another country
5. Write a book – probably a musician biography
6. Buy a franchise and/or Create a Franchise/License Opportunity
7. Launch another business – become completely self-employed
8. Air Balloon Ride within the Grand Canyon
9. Create a Music Library/performance space open to the public and suited for aspiring musicians
10. Find a new home in NC or SC – near the ocean of course
“Make sure the fortune that you seek, is the fortune you need”
– Ben Harper “Diamonds on the Inside”
If you want to share and compare “What’s Next” lists at the next reunion, I will look forward to hearing your future goals and the stories of your life. If you care about what was going on with me just before the 20 year reunion, that post is still up – click here.
-pjc