give me these moments back

[autumn_crimson]

i just received an e-mail containing some details regarding our ten year high school reunion. i’m one of those dorks who’s actually really excited to go to this, probably because other than all math classes and any gym activity beyond floor hockey, archery or badminton, i loved the heck out of high school. it didn’t start out all wine and roses, but i’d say each successive year my level of comfort with myself and my peers continued on an upward trend.

i can only hope that my suggestion ten years ago for a perfect high school reunion was remembered: i said it should be held at the high school, and we’d all have to run through our senior year schedules. in each classroom we’d take our seats and then take a shot. eight periods = eight shots, and you can’t tell me that wouldn’t be everything you’d ever want a high school reunion to be.

so in honor of the passing of ten years, here is a list of ten things that are very close to being the same as they were during my senior year:

1. christina is still my best friend who is still farther away than i’d like, but doing fantastically well for herself.
2. marc is still my man.
3. my family still calls ivy bend its home base of operations.
4. my cat is still my comrade, my mentor, and simultaneously my protégé, and i still crumble to her every demand.
5. although i no longer do the funky wavy/curly thing with my hair, it’s still most definitely red.
6. i am still very good friends with all of the people i thought i’d be still be very good friends with in ten years.
7. still obsessed with tori amos.
8. still contemplating getting the same tattoo that i’ll probably never actually make a reality.
9. still getting up at 5:30 in the morning and pining for the day when i don’t have to do that anymore. outlook of that happening is getting more and more bleak.
10. still shooting photos with my camera on a semi-regular basis.

of course, there are the rather subtle differences between then and now that i should note for a few of these:

1. instead of being one state away, christina is now across the entire continent.
2. marc has about 12 inches less hair than he did, and he dresses a heck of a lot better (although to be fair, in 1999 the inside-out KMFDM t-shirt did have its charm). oh, and there's the whole husband vs. boyfriend thing.
3. i no longer call ivy bend my place of residence. also, similar to marc, time has only served to improve its looks.
4. i’d say the notable difference in maizy is that she’s about 8 pounds heavier, has less small bowel, and is more radioactive than she was ten years ago.
5. camera is now a DSLR vs. a SLR. but i'm tempted to break the old one out again someday.

so here we are, ten years later. i look forward to raising a glass (shot or otherwise) to the people we were then, the places we’ve gone since, and the fact that we’ll always have our times together as a highlight in our journeys.