Of COURSE you should attend the reunion. If you fail to show up, no excuse will be good enough. This may be a once-in-a-lifetime event, and missing it will be certain to haunt you for a long time to come - I will see to that.

You may think you'll be saving a few hundred dollars on air fare, but you'll be sacrificing greatly on nourishment of the soul. A few hundred dollars may seem like a lot when you're unemployed; however, it's probably not going to make a great deal of difference in determining exactly when you'll have to return to work.

I think you need to look at attending the reunion as an investment in your next job. During the reunion, we will discuss your employment situation, offer suggestions, make recommendations. Therefore, you will be able to write off the trip on your 1994 taxes. Plus you'll have great company and many memorable experiences.

If you don't make the trip, you'll probably never really notice the difference in having the extra cash. It will just dribble away in that familiar way that money usually does, and you won't have anything to show for it - just a lot of regrets that you didn't take advantage of your chance when you had it to participate in this latest of Archipelago adventures.

Of course the ultimate decision is yours to make; I just hope you make the right one.