John,

We were standing next to you John when you made the recommendation at the 97 reunion to Kim about holding possibly 2 or 3 reunions. Kim has a way of saying a lot with a look, doesn’t she. I hate to say it but we didn't think much of the idea at the time either.

Now that we have been to the 98 reunion, which was good, but in our humble opinion did not hold a candle to the 97 reunion. Now before you folks jump all over us, let us explain. There were two factors missing at this reunion, one was the intimacy and the other was the fact that there were too many people for the facility we were in. Tell me the elevator situation didn’t about drive you nuts! And that certainly wasn’t due to poor planning on the part of Younger and Associates, it was due to the folks like ourselves who were determined to be there and increased the numbers so much more than previously planned. Due to these two factors, John, we have changed our minds about your potential solution.

We have been fascinated at how many e-mails we have gotten from people saying they tried to find us at the reunion and couldn't. There were numerous people that we wanted to search out (some were expecting us to find them) and we saw most of them, but couldn't get to them across the very crowded room or extremely cramped tent before they had disappeared. One couple we were looking for and knew they were there, we never even saw.

The 2 to 3 reunions spread out over the year to us sounds like a decent solution the more we think about it. We feel it would give us the opportunity that most of us seem to be looking for; getting to know other collectors and having the opportunities to share with each other. Being spread out like that, it might even be less of a hastle and maybe even more fun for the staff of Younger and Associates. The family atmosphere is what you are looking for. We felt some of that family atmosphere this year from old acquittances and friends from last year’s reunion. It was just a shame that a lot of folks could not find us and we them.

We kind of made a conscious decision not to even seek out or take the opportunity to use up any of the time available to Kim, Maureen, Becky or Harry and the rest of the Younger group because they had so much on their platters trying to manage a group this size. We figured we have had the opportunities to have had a lot of contact with them in the past and felt it would be best to let some new folks have more of an opportunity to spend some time getting to know them. After all, they are a pretty special group of folks. (Kim and Maureen are two of our favorite people.) But, quite honestly, we missed not being able to share some things with them. If the group was smaller we really believe the intimacy factor would be a real plus from a lot of views of looking at it.

The costs could be greatly reduced on some portions for Younger & Associates as you said. More reunion pieces, more goodies, more Ships Store neat stuff, more T Shirts, more wonderful black and red jackets all ordered at the same time (incidentally both these jackets are wonderful - we love our’s) could bring some costs down significantly.

Of course, the transportation and lodging costs and logistics for Younger & Assoc. would be increased. But if one of the reunions was in San Diego area each time (or logistically close to Younger and Associates), that cost could be cut down a bit. And there are a lot of collectors concentrated in that area. The facilities at the hotel in San Diego were perfect for the reunion, as all you had to do was walk out of the door of your room and look down to see who was doing what (at any hour), or from the third floor, or second floor you could see what was going on in the courtyard, etc., etc. - they just need to add a couple more elevators. If you have a reunion at the same facility, all we ask is you find one on the east coast like it for us.

One possible suggestion as a result of observations from both reunions is that we decrease the level and numbers and activities during the weekend stay. That would be logistically much easier for Younger and Associates, not to mention increasing the desired intimacy factor. (Just hanging out with fellow collectors in the hotel was a high point during the reunions.) In 97 the morning “come and go as you will” brunch in the courtyard where we just milled around from table to table sharing with and getting to know the different collectors was an absolute highlight for us and we think as well the other’s that we saw there. We have heard from many people we met that morning throughout this past year. It has been amazing to us how bonds were formed during that short couple of hours. The breakfast on Saturday morning at the 98 reunion could have been somewhat the same (overlooking the hour). There was one thing that was a distraction from this happening. It was not at all a bad thing. Quite the contrary. But the wonderful talk the lady gave us on lighthouses seemed to stop many people from sharing with others at their tables. We didn’t want to be rude. Her presence was greatly appreciated, however, it seemed to be an inappropriate time for such a talk. It finally came down to us being a bit rude to her as the desire to share overcame most of our concern for being rude. I think the second half of her talk fell on deaf ears for the most part. Don’t know if you noticed, the noise in the room heightened dramatically as time went on.

As the membership is growing at a dramatic rate, just maybe an assistant for Maureen might be a key factor in making this all feasible. Right Maureen?

You know, the more we think about it, Kim and Maureen et al. We like John’s idea. OK - what do you want to call us now in light of our numerous old handles we have had!!! At least you know we are out there and care and we can’t wait to see the Big Yellow Bus for The Roadshow!

We have other ideas, if anyone wants to hear them . . . but for now we will throw this into the discussion . . .

SFBTW (sorry for being too wordy)

Michael and Karen Power