Fitting In

After the HB was accepted (for lack of a better word) to the school he's in 3 years ago, they sent us tickets to their annual fund raiser, gratis. I have to tell you, their process of bringing on new families is awesome (my clients could learn from it when getting new employees acclimated to the company). But, I digress. The first thing we noticed about the tickets was that they were $125 a pop! Clearly, we were not in Kansas anymore.

Both the wife and I grew up in middle-class families. Both of our dad's were engineers. My mom worked part time while my brother and I were in school. Her mom stayed at home to raise the four kids she was emotionally unsuited to take care of (but that's another entry). Until we started looking for school's for the HB (to save him from the morass that is the LA Unified School District), neither one of us had ever set foot in a private school. I won't go through that whole process, but I'll be happy if I only have to do it one more time (his school is K-8).

My wife and I both have six-figure incomes and we have no debt, so we are not paupers. However, the opulence of some of the school functions definitely gives us pause. For instance, I received the following in an e-mail about the upcoming silent auction at the annual fundraiser:

The silent auction committee is trying to put together some trip packages and we need your help with some plane tickets and hotels. Anyone who might be able to help us should contact...

Wish List:

100,000 airline miles or 2 round trip tickets to Hawaii
3 nights at a hotel in Hawaii (we have 2 nights already)
5 nights at a hotel in Tokyo
dinner at a restaurant in NYC

Oh, and I just got this for the pre-event items:

(1) 24 - Visit the set of this hit series and meet Jack Bauer! Meet and greet with Kiefer Sutherland and take home a basket of show merchandise. Limited to four people. Subject to Availability. Contact So-and-so for arrangements.

Like I said, this thing is totally over the top and will probably raise more than $250K. The LA Times recently had a story about the crazy jack that these school fund raisers bring in (tho' I can't find the link to save my life). When I read the story I thought, "I am SO glad they didn't mention the HB's school, or else I'd never hear the end of it from my parents."

I should mention that everyone we've met at the school is very nice and we haven't run into any spoiled fucking brats who run amok. But still, the big dollars make my wife and I uncomfortable (we'll be passing on the big event this year). It makes me wonder if you are where you came from or who you roll with.

BTW--I went 12-4 in my NCAA picks yesterday. Hopefully today will be better.