high school reunion

Oct 20, 2007 19:38


Last night I went to my ten-year high school reunion. I've kept in touch with a fair number of people from high school but most of them are a year older. The one other person I've kept in touch with I knew wasn't going. I enjoyed high school though, and there were enough people I hoped to see that I decided to go. Josh and I flew in to town yesterday afternoon and went to the party last night. On the airplane I studied the year book to try to remember names and events. It was fun although I'm not sure it helped.

When I got there I felt instantly anti-social and nervouse. What if noone I "knew" was there. What if I was a total dork. What if what if... so silly I know. It was like I was teleported back to my high school feelings. Luckily that didn't last long because the first person I saw was Mike Diehl, a good friend from Cross Country. He is Morman so of course married 5 years with 2 kids already and one more on the way. He has two masters and lives un Utah. Then Mandi Jussel, another friend from XC saw us and came over and we chatted for a good while. She was really good to see too. She is also a teacher so we talked shop for a while. She looked fabulous too, a good haircut and fit looking.

I then talked to Ray Aberly. In HS I thought he might be slightly retarded. But whoa was I wrong. He is totally normal and can now have a normal conversation. Although Josh said he was weird, it was nothing compared to what I remember. He said he still liked taking pictures as a hobby but most of his spare time is used with his own business as a DJ. He also works at Trader Joes.

Next I talked to Cindy Mackel which was really good because in HS she was so out of place. Like many HS'ers she hadn't really found herself yet. Right after graduation she got pregnant and I ran into her at a Bite of Seattle and saw her then one year old. Now of course her kid is 9 years old. Cincy showed me a picture and was there with her boyfriend. She said she has a great job and seemed way more confident and fun and even funny. I really enjoyed talking to her.

Ironically my other orchestra friend that I saw there, Jessica (Seale?) was super bitchy and way more insecure than high school. I'm not sure she smiled once. Which was weird because in HS I don't remember her smiling much but I do remember having some really good conversations with her. We were good friends in some moments. But at the reunion she totally snubbed me. I wasn't totally shocked though because I always suspected that deep down she was a bitch. A person who did totally snub me was Jennifer Stearns (SP?). She and I were friends in Spanish and would talk about boys mostly. Back then she was in to the grunge scene. At the reunion she was dressed up really nice in a black dress and really straight bleached blond hair. When I went to say hi, she gave me the impression she couldn't wait till I went away. Weird because in HS I never got the impression she was bitchy. Insecure, yes, bitchy, no. Oh well. Interesting to say the least.

Anyway, I was very happy to see three good friends from HS there that I hadn't seen for perhaps 8-10 years. Kirstin Haugen, Lydia Powell, and Ginger Hoggatt. They all came together. Cute, because there all three lived in a culdesac together in HS. Lydia has been married 3+ years to a guy who is really into sports like Josh. The two of them talked marathon/bicycles/triathalons for while. Lydia is in city planning (I forget where). Kirstin lives in Seattle with her boyfriend that she ironically met when she was in HS. She had a super crush on him at the time but didn't get together until approx. 4 years ago. Cute huh. I forget what she does but she wants to move to Bothell and run for office there. She had blonde hair and a cute (cleave but not too much) dress, and both her and Lydia looked really good. Ginger was surprisingly fake. Not alot, but her facial expressions were exaggerated. I don't remember that from HS. It was good to see her though. She looked really good too though. Her hair was really nice and she and Mike Diehl talked for a while about Utah, where they both live. Ginger is not Mormon however, despite living in Utah. She likes living there because she can afford to buy a house and its a very family friendly state. Before the reunion I told Josh that She and Kirstin were the two people I hoped most to see.

I also talked to Kylene Ries, neighborhood and orchestra friend from elementary/junior high days. She was fun to talk to and we had a pretty good conversation about various topics, family and where we live and what we do and things like that. We are both teachers so that was fun to talk about. She was easy to talk to and pretty honest about how she feels about life.

I also talked a good deal to Emily Dickert. I think she was shy in HS (so was I but I think she was more than me). We had calculus together but didn't really ever talk until the end of the year. She got into Stanford and everyone was surprised when she did because she was smart but there were also other smart people in our grade. It was like all heads noticed her for once. Not many people from our grade went to high rated schools. She looked fabulous by the way. Super cute hair cut and out-fit and easy to talk to now (In HS alot of us were awkward weren't we). She has this job that sounded really cool although now I forget what it was. She lives in Queen Ann.

Princy was of course there and we talked for a few minutes. He was easy to talk to and had a pretty girlfriend with him. He and Josh got along well because Princy is a Dentist and so didn't bat an eyelash when Josh talked about residency. Some people at the reunion did. It can be 1% awkward at times, but with Princy it totally normal. That was nice. He seems to be doing very well financially with two practices in Renton btw.

I briefly talked to Hilary, a friend from junior high but also a bit in 10th grade. I had always wondered what happened to her because she was super smart but had a bad home life. After 10th grade Spanish I never saw her and I always wondered what had happened to her. She told me last night that she was in and out of different group homes and I had heard way back when that she had a baby in 11th grade. She is now pregnant with her 5th and the father is the same for all 5 (I think)--the same guy she's been with since 7th grade. His name was Rodrigez. I don't remember. But anyway this girl had like 5 older sisters all of whom had babies when they were teenagers. I remember Hilary was 16 or 17 when she had hers--the oldest of all her sisters. Interesting stuff. Anyway, I don't remember what she's doing now but it was good to see her.

People I wished were there: Julie and Olivia. After the wedding I kinda lost touch with them and I hoped to reconnect.

After I talked to all these people that was pretty much it. I definately thought it was worth it and was glad I went. Seeing those people was fun and what I had hoped for. Everyone else there, (about 100 in all) were the people I didn't really know at all.

Oh one other thing. One of the greeters was Laura Clawson, gorgeous cheerleader and nice and popular--not someone I would normally talk to because just different circles. Her mom was my 5th grade teacher. My best friend from 5th grade married her brother!!! So weird. So when she was the first person I saw there, I of course had to mention it to her and she and I laughed. She said my name comes up once in a while with Kara (who has two kids?). I wanted to ask if Kara is still Morman. I wonder that because Laura isn't so either her brother converted or Kara unconverted. Interesting stuff.

high school reunion

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