Are you thinking about possibly skipping August's reunion picnic? Think again. And let me tell you a story fully illustrating that point.

I moved to Clarence between 9th and 10th grades, having lived in Elmira the previous five years. My Elmira high school class had its 30th reunion in mid-July. I had never been to any of their reunions, but decided to attend this one after making sure there would be a couple of people who might remember me.

The format was pretty typical: a mixer at a sports bar Friday night, a formal dinner at a hotel Saturday. On Friday night, I even saw Kevin Moshier, a Clarence grad now living in Elmira who was nice enough to drop by for a beer. (He says hello to everyone.)

Saturday afternoon, my classmate Sue - who lived a block away - and I walked around the old neighborhood. I had checked the phone book, and found that a few parents of friends were still in the houses they had in 1970. At 1 o'clock, Sue and I went over to see the parents of one of my best friends of the late 1960's, Mark. We had lost touch of each other about, oh, 32 years ago.

Luckily, the parents remembered us. They told us how Mark was living near Annapolis, Maryland now. We gave them the usual information and e-mail addresses and headed on our way.

• At 2:40, Mark's mom e-mailed Mark with the story about how we had dropped by.
• At 2:45, Mark happened to check his e-mail. He knew about the reunion, but it had been a busy month and he didn't really feel like driving somewhere for another weekend. Besides, he had never been to any reunion before.
• But he read over his mother's e-mail, and said to his wife, "I can't believe it. Sue came all the way from Palm Springs, California for this, and Budd drove down from Buffalo ... and he wasn't even in the class.

So he threw a few things together, drove five hours by himself, and caught the last three hours of the reunion. Then he and I traded stories until 3 a.m. He got up the next morning and drove back to Maryland in time for baby-sitting duty with his two kids. So take it from someone who has been there: you just don't know who will turn up at a reunion.

(Got a story of your own? E-mail it to me and maybe it will be part of the next TGIF!))