My 5 Year Class Reunion OR How to Embarrass Yourself in Front of People You Haven't Seen In 5 Years

Kathryn and I have come a long way!

 At first, I was pretty nervous to go to my class reunion.  Many schools don't even have a 5 year class reunion.  There were some people who, honestly, I have been avoiding since graduation.  But the friends I still keep in touch with wanted to go and they wanted me to go too.  MAN.  I'm so glad I listened to my much wiser friends.

I started off my morning almost in tears.  I've gained about 10 pounds since high school, my acne (which had gone away after taking Acutane in high school) has returned and my hair was NOT cooperating. 
I spent the day going to local garage sales with my grandma.  If this couldn't get me in a good mood, nothing would have worked.  Buying people's old junk is a favorite past time of mine.

I got ready quickly and was actually happy with the result- junk shopping put the glow in my cheeks!  I picked up Kiley, my best and oldest friend to go to dinner.  It only got better from here!

Friends that should have been my friends always

I saw people I didn't know I wanted to see.  Some of my classmates have really blossomed in the past 5 years.  They are doing wonderful things with their lives and it was so great to hear them share and to be able to share my work and goals with them too.

My long lost love, Anna.

For so long, I hated going home because I didn't think there was anyone to hang out with.  I lived at home all last summer and I left as much as I could and spent the rest of my time on the porch by myself.  I should have been seeking out all of these people who live around home still.  Even though they stayed at home, they are still doing big things with their lives.  Although, in the past year, since many of my class have graduated college, even more have moved back home than I would have expected. 

It was Lanark's annual Old Settler's Days, the biggest party Lanark has all year.  It was my first time being there since I can drink.  Too much fun.  WHO KNEW that Old Settler's Days were so rockin?!?  Well I'll be back next year to cause some madness again.  After the beer tent closed, we also closed down Dave's Place, the ONE and ONLY bar in Lanark.  Then I went to a party and THEN I stayed up talking to an old friend who is WAY more intelligent than I ever realized.

I LEARNED that I should have listened to my own advice.  I worked very hard in high school and was the Salutatorian of my class, which means I got to give a speech at graduation.  In my speech I told my classmates to go on to bigger and better things, but never forget where you came from.  All this time, I've been forgetting where I came from and only now did I realize that a huge part of who I am is because of where I came from and from who I had around me all those years. 

Me, Mari, Anna and Kiley in the car on the way to Old Settler's Days.  Somehow I always manage to pick right up where I left off with these girls.  "Cactus Friends" my mama always calls friends like these.  "You only have to 'water' them every once in a while, and they love you anyway"