High School Reunion

My five-year high school reunion was last Saturday.

And I didn't go.

Part of the reason is that the people I have wanted to keep in touch with after high school, I have.

The second reason is that I feel like I'm in such a different place and would have absolutely nothing to talk about.

The third reason is that I'm very OK with leaving high school in the past.

The funny thing about high school is, when you're there, you think, "This is it." I remember thinking that high school was the most important time of my life. But it wasn't. Not even close. 

A girl I went to high school with commented via Facebook that the reunion would be a lot of "So what are you up to?" "Not much. Just finished college, looking for a job, living with my parents." "Oh sweet, me too." And that's probably true for the most part.

But that's all foreign to me because I graduated, have had a full-time job and my own place for over a year now. I've also been married for over a year and haven't lived in Orange County with my parents since I left five years ago.

It's not that I think I've done better or worse than anyone from my high school, it's that we don't have much in common. And really, what's the point? I don't live there; I'd never go out with any of them; and I have no desire to "brag" about what I've done in the last five years; and I highly doubt many of them even care.

Instead, I'd rather spend time with people from high school that I am still friends with, by choice. I'd rather spend time with Cody, who's been one of my best friends for eight years despite dating, distance and more drama than I care to remember. 

Or Kaitlin, who is pretty much my soul mate and best friend for nine-plus years despite drama, deaths, thousands of miles and boys between us. Or a small handful of others who I know will be there for me five, 10, or even 15 years from now.

After looking through the pictures, I am so relieved I didn't go. The truth of it is, parts of high school were great and I will always cherish those memories. But I didn't peak in high school. And, who I am now isn't who I was in high school. And many of the people I was "friends" with in high school aren't my friends now.

Mostly, I love things how they are now and have no need to go try to relive the past.

To me, high school is just the beginning of finding out who you are. And finding out who your true friends are, even if you look silly while doing it. 

Senior Cruise with Kaitlin, dressed as saloon girls. Nov. 2003.

High School Self

I attended a semi-prominent high school in Orange County--Santa Margarita Catholic High School (SMCHS). Products of my high school include Carson Palmer (NFL player), Amy Rodriguez (Olympic Gold Medalist), and....Doug Reinhardt?

Maybe it's just me, but being cute and gallivanting around with Hollywood starlets (Hills actresses, Amanda Bynes, now Paris Hilton) doesn't seem like a promising life goal. Then again, at least he has something in common with them.

Photo Courtesy of www.buzzhollywood.com

Mr. Reinhardt, as far as I know, graduated in my high school class in 2004. (What I mean by that is, I know he attended SMCHS with me, but I do not know that he graduated. For arguments' sake, we will assume he did.) He was a jock, a baseball jock, which didn't mean too much since we had a stellar football team and they were the popular ones. He was cute, even then, as you can tell. While I didn't personally know him, I had been warned to stay away as I was told that he apparently (a) knew he was cute and was full of himself and (b) was a jerk. And so, I did.

There's something about high school that, for the most part, makes me want to leave it in the past. However, when Mr. Reinhardt's face flashes on my TV screen at home during an E! Soup commercial, I'm right back in the not-so-glamorous but snobbishly-wealthy SMCHS days.

It all makes me wonder, how much of our adult selves are developed in high school? I'd like to think there is very little of my high school self that is alive in my adult self today. I'd like to think that the most of the girl I left in high school is a former version of me. But, is it?

From what I was told about Mr. Reinhardt in high school, and who he seems to be on TV and in gossip mags now, it doesn't seem like all that much has changed.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope Mr. Reinhardt is humble, and generous, and kind, and loyal and loves Paris as much as she claims he does. I hope he's changed, because then I can have hope that all is not molded pre-high school, and that I am not the childish, insecure, shy, needy girl that I used to be.