High School Reunion

Originally published on Inland Empire Family, April 4, 2011.

Springtime always takes me back to my senior year in high school. My whole life ahead of me, I was going to go far away to college and reinvent myself.


Reinvention is hard work and, like most college students, I didn’t really have it in me. I did enough to get by. I graduated with a decent GPA. I got a job; I moved across the country. Then it was time for my 10 year high school reunion and my ‘big reveal.’I guess the joke was on me. My name tag kept falling off and I was worried about it until someone that I hardly knew in school told me “Oh just throw it away. Everyone knows who you are anyway.”

All these years later I’m not so sure that I’ve changed that much, either. Yes, I’m married now, have children, a mortgage, drive a mini-van and have a 3-car garage, but inside and out I’m amazed at how much I haven’t changed.



And while I’m no longer an insecure 17 year old that wants to radically change who she is, I’ve grown to (mostly) love who I am. I still love jamming out to cheesy ’80′s techno dance music, drinking margaritas (where I lived, the drinking age was lower then!), going to parties with my friends, and taking a day off to get lost in a great book.

This summer I will plan and attend my 25th class reunion. I will stress out over the perfect outfit and that I haven’t lost these pesky 10 pounds that I found this winter. I will smile and laugh and hug all of the people that I haven’t seen in 25 years, some who will be attending our reunion for the first time. I’ll squeal over the ones that we aren’t expecting and shed a tear over the ones that won’t ever be able to join us again.

What I won’t do is try to reinvent myself this time. I like me just the way I am and always have been.