Reunited: THS Class of '03

I graduated from high school in June of 2003, aka ten years ago. Ten years after high school = reunion time!

This milestone in adulthood prompted a bit of reflection in me. I loved elementary school. A lot. Junior high was all right. High school sucked pretty hardcore in some respects and was pretty great in other respects.

School pictures. Yikes. Junior high was obviously my awkward stage. Oh, wait, so was most of high school. Oh, wait, I just saw my bangs - elementary school was pretty awkward too. Can an awkward 'stage' cover most of your childhood and into adulthood??

Journalism class and working on the school newspaper were bright, bright spots in my life. 

So was winning an award for being an outstanding newspaper student!

My dear, dear friends Emily and Andrew were the bright spots of my senior year. I used to say their friendship was my reward for enduring the rest of high school :). The three of us decided to hold a mini-reunion/early birthday celebration at the beginning of June (Emily's and Andrew's birthdays are just a day apart).

It was SO fun. We met at Andrew's new house and checked it all out (it's pretty awesome) and then went to lunch (Andrew's bf Tim joined us) and then finished catching up just the three of us. I'm so grateful for these two and how much fun they made my life ten years ago, and I love that we can laugh just as hard now as we used to back then :).

Em and I at graduation.

Andrew was my date to Senior Prom!

I was able to attend another mini-reunion the the next weekend:

Jana, Carly, Parker, Chase. 

I almost didn't go to this little gathering, but I'm so, so glad I did. I've known Chase and Parker since preschool but for a few different reasons (aka scroll back up and look at my junior high pictures again) we were never good, good friends. Carly was my best-est friend from third grade through about seventh grade; we stayed friends through high school but weren't super close. I was nervous that I'd be crashing the best friend party, but it ended up being really fun and relaxed and a great opportunity to catch up as adults - and meet their respective spouses. Tons of good laughs that night!

Some pictures of Carly and me. The top left picture is when we represented our school in the Spelling Bee in 4th grade. Below that is when we traveled to Washington D.C. together (with her family) the summer after 8th grade to compete in National History Day, where we won the 'Outstanding State Entry' award. We were pretty awesome.

Oh, I took Jack with me to the party, where he proceeded to eat half of the brownies we took to share. Classy.

Also classy? Eating them right in front of a cute little girl (Chase's niece Leah) who had already brushed her teeth and therefore couldn't have any.

The actual reunion was a really casual event at a cafe in downtown Boise. I had such a great time chatting with friends from all stages of my scholastic career - people I was close to in elementary school or junior high but hadn't talked to much in high school, etc.

Top left is Kari, who was part of a trio with Carly and me in 6th grade. Lots of sleepovers :). Below that on the left is Alissa (bummed I didn't get a picture actually with her!), a super cute girl whom I named my Cabbage Patch doll after in first grade. Alissa also worked at Kmart with me, so she knows Chuck too. Bottom left corner is Eric; we've been friends since early elementary school.

Bottom middle is me with JB - ours was one of those friendships where I just loved him and I'm pretty sure he thought I was insane. (Common theme with my friendships...). My goal in math class every day sophomore year was to annoy him until he smiled :). Bottom right corner is Alicia, aka my best best friend from second grade. We walked home together every day and pretended we were orphans. Hers was the first non-family member phone number I ever memorized. And finally, the big picture in the top right is me, Jyoti, Melissa, and Krystal.

Eric took me to Homecoming Senior Year; we went with a big group of friends and had a great time.

Eric's mom is one of the sweetest ladies ever and she wrote me the nicest note around graduation, which I understand more fully now as a mom myself.

Another picture with Melissa and Jyoti.

And here's one of Melissa and me from senior year!

I sat and talked with Chase's super cute wife Amberlyn for a while, which I really enjoyed.

More random candid pictures:

One of our sweet classmates Kimberly took it upon herself to document the reunion and post all of the pictures on our class facebook page.

It was so crazy to see and talk with people that I haven't even thought of in so many years - and so fun! For some bonus excitement we didn't have nametags, so there was lots of awkward staring as we all tried to remember some names :). I was pretty surprised that everyone I randomly approached called me by name; I was 88% sure most people wouldn't remember me.

As I said earlier, the reunion really gave me a lot to think about - who I was then vs. who I am now. I've always had a fair amount of self-confidence (or at least a fair amount of "I'll do what I want, and other people can deal with it"), but I really do feel so much more comfortable in my own skin now than I did then. I have a better understanding of the world and my place in it. I don't (as much!) compare my life/challenges/whatever to other people's. I have better eyebrows...

So clearly I feel like a good example of the 'It gets better' mantra about life after high school :). It was fun to go back for an evening, but coming home to my super cute [anti-social, which is why I didn't make him go] husband and my sweet boys was definitely the best part!!