Ten Years

Can’t believe it’s been ten years since this: 

Yes, that’s me slitting my own neck. 

This one’s for you, Kati!

And this: Homecoming pageant!

And this: Theme dances!

And this: AP History presentations! Yes, that’s me dressed up as General Grant. 

And this: Late-night craziness! What floors me is that I used to stay up past midnight like it was no big deal. What I wouldn’t give for an extra hour of sleep now days…my how times have changed. 

The point of all these blasts from the past? At the end of our Utah trip, I went to my ten year high school reunion. Even though many of my good friends live across the country and/or were otherwise unable to attend (AHEM…Crysta, Kati, Erica, Cassey, Caroline…), it was fun catching up with old friends and acquaintances. 

 The reunion began in the afternoon with a family picnic, mainly so that those with kids could meet each other’s families. The funniest part was when several people I hadn’t really kept in touch with barely said hi to me before calling Samantha and Amelia by name and asking all sorts of questions about them. Even though I’m not on Facebook very often, the girls have apparently gained quite the following! 

My date for the night. Didn’t even have the decency to open his eyes for this photo…

Later that evening, there was a dinner at the high school, complete with catering from Cafe Rio (it wouldn’t be Utah without it!), old photos displayed everywhere, a few tables honoring those from our class who have since passed away, slideshows, memorabilia tables and the Top40 playlist from 2003-2004 playing in the background. 

Before the reunion, the organizers asked everyone via Facebook to upload photos they had of high school, which were fun to look at before and during the event. I sent in a few, but am still trying to find my stash. You’d think as the former newspaper editor and an avid scrapbooker I would have them stored somewhere logical, but, alas, this wasn’t the case. 

They also had a cute Vikings photo backdrop set up at the reunion, but I was so busy chatting that I didn’t take advantage of it. I literally only took five pictures the whole time! 

AP English Book Club reunion with Jessica and Megan (a fellow mama of twin boys…we spent the evening setting up an arranged marriage of our respective twins!)

As the evening was winding down, Ashleigh and I walked around the school, soaking up the memories, while our husbands tried not to roll their eyes at every mention of, “Oh my gosh! Remember THAT! Best times EVER!”  

Surprisingly, I hardly recognized the place– it’s been majorly upgraded since I went to school there. Everything looked so unfamiliar that I couldn’t even find some old classrooms of my favorite teachers…AP History with Mrs. Thompson, Newspaper and AP English with Mrs. Shelton, Honors English with Ms. Hadley, AP French with Mrs. Rich, Chamber Guitar (actually just a guitar class…a few of us added in the “Chamber” part in order to create a fake elite guitar group at school–it totally caught on) or AP Gov/AP World History with Mrs. Merrill. 

I did find my AP Biology teacher, Mr. Van Dijk’s classroom and obviously had to take a picture next to it. SO many memories inside this classroom, none of which involve learning biology!

Many friends who didn’t end up going to the reunion said that reunions were obsolete in the era of Facebook, but I totally disagree. It was well worth it to go and catch up face to face. As one of the reunion organizers put it, “Seeing you all in person made all the Facebook stalking I’ve done of you over the years way less awkward!”

So what was Jake doing while my old friends and I were waxing nostalgic? Doing what he does best–mingling and making friends with complete strangers. Jake had fun approaching random people and exclaiming, “Hey! Great to see you again!” as if he had gone to our high school. A disturbing amount of people played along with it, replying, “Yeah…great to see you too…uh…man!” Talk about an awkward moment when he confessed he didn’t really go to our high school! 

Jake unfortunately missed his 10 year reunion because he was taking the California Bar Exam at the time, so I think he was making up for all that lost fun!

Lots of love,