Imagine you are at your next high school reunion. How do you think your old school friends would react to the person you are today?
I was never really close with the people in my graduating class. The majority of my high school friends were either a grade above or a grade below me. That’s not to say I didn’t have friends in my own grade, just that most would not be at my reunion.
The handful that would, however, would likely not be surprised by who I am. For one thing, I don’t think I’ve changed that drastically in the past decade. I’ve put on a bit of weight and I’m a touch more cynical than I was back then, but I’m still the same girl with my nose in a book or a pen in my hand and a habit of looking for the best in people even when they’re disappointing me.
They would not be surprised to find out that I got married after a long engagement and being in my relationship for years. It would have been more surprising if I had married sooner, I think. I wasn’t convinced marriage was for me, and certainly not after a year or two of knowing a person. Hell, I even had my doubts in the year and a half between the proposal and the wedding. But those were the whisperings of fear and I quashed them when I realized them for what they were.
My friends would also not be surprised to learn that I work in engineering outsourcing, though they might not have expected it to be in the aerospace industry. Then again, maybe they all thought I would go on to be a math teacher. I don’t know, I haven’t talked to most of them since high school. I do think it’s a logical place for me to be given my experience and education and how often I voiced my aversion to becoming a teacher. It was nothing against teachers, I just didn’t want to teach.
My tastes and interests have remained largely static since high school, too. I still love to read fantasy novels and science fiction and YA. I still read manga and watch anime and animated films. Hell, I still watch the same anime and movies I loved in HS. New ones too, but I revisit my faves just as often as new stuff. Same with music. My tastes are still alternative and hard rock. I still listen to old Linkin Park and Evanescence and Breaking Benjamin but now I throw in Bring Me The Horizon and In This Moment and I Prevail.
The only new thing in my life since high school aside from my husband and house in a new state is probably tennis. I never really paid attention to tennis until college. I didn’t really try to play it either. But then I met this guy and he liked to play and he had an extra racquet so we went down to the courts one morning and he tried to teach me how to play. He also explained the different tournaments to me and the pro players he liked and we watched a few matches of one of the Grand Slams on TV and I learned I really liked tennis. (Reader, I married him almost seven years later.)
I am curious now about what those friends are up to these days. None of them are on Facebook anymore, or they’re on as infrequently as I am and we never happen to be on at the same time. But most of them weren’t the type to attend a big reunion of our graduating class because we all had closer friends in other classes and schools. Wherever they are, whatever they’re up to, I hope they’re doing well.
It’s your turn now. Have you attended a high school reunion or do you have one coming up? Are you going? Who do you hope to see there? Do you think you’ve changed a lot in the intervening years? Get to writing now! Have a great night! I’ll see you tomorrow!
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Closet Full of Notebooks 