Many interesting things happened during the span of my high school years - O.J. Simpson committed, denied, and was ultimately acquitted of a heinous crime, Kurt Cobain committed suicide, the song "Roll to Me" by Del Amitri mysteriously found its way to the No. 1 billboard spot, and I thought it was a good idea to wear white, full-length leggings under my dance team uniform on gameday fridays. Yikes on all counts.
They set off fireworks during football games now, can you even believe that shit? What a waste of the taxpayer's money. Seriously. A high school football team does not need fireworks. But I digress.
Let's just say I was blissfully unaware of many, many things in my high school years. I was so wrapped around my dancing, my friends, and my schoolwork that I let other things pass me by - like drinking, drugs, and dating. I didn't do either of the first two, and just a tiny bit of the third.
So you can imagine my relative shock and awe last weekend upon the event of our 10-year high school reunion. I went to a large high school in the suburbs of Chicago - graduating class of 780 and something. A proportionately large amount of people showed up (I would estimate 150-160) of that class, and almost all were happy surprises to see. I saw guys I had forgotten I once had a 10-second crush on, girls that I never wanted to see again, and a load of people that I didn't recognize at all.
(the reunion committee, hence the matching jackets)
People have had children, gotten married, gotten divorced, died, gained weight, lost weight - you name it, it happened. It was such a refreshing thing to see - a reminder that even though we thought the world revolved around us back then, we are all just people now. Adults with jobs, lives, responsibilities, burdens, and stories. It was exciting and surprising, and I'm so glad to have been a part of it.
Come to think of it, I feel the same way about high school.
They set off fireworks during football games now, can you even believe that shit? What a waste of the taxpayer's money. Seriously. A high school football team does not need fireworks. But I digress.
Let's just say I was blissfully unaware of many, many things in my high school years. I was so wrapped around my dancing, my friends, and my schoolwork that I let other things pass me by - like drinking, drugs, and dating. I didn't do either of the first two, and just a tiny bit of the third.
So you can imagine my relative shock and awe last weekend upon the event of our 10-year high school reunion. I went to a large high school in the suburbs of Chicago - graduating class of 780 and something. A proportionately large amount of people showed up (I would estimate 150-160) of that class, and almost all were happy surprises to see. I saw guys I had forgotten I once had a 10-second crush on, girls that I never wanted to see again, and a load of people that I didn't recognize at all.
(the reunion committee, hence the matching jackets)
People have had children, gotten married, gotten divorced, died, gained weight, lost weight - you name it, it happened. It was such a refreshing thing to see - a reminder that even though we thought the world revolved around us back then, we are all just people now. Adults with jobs, lives, responsibilities, burdens, and stories. It was exciting and surprising, and I'm so glad to have been a part of it.
Come to think of it, I feel the same way about high school.
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