"We are Awesome... We are FUN..."

"We're the Class of '91!!!"
Or something like that.
I don't remember the exact cheer, but I'm quite sure the first line ended in "fun," I don't think any of us were much more creative than that.
Goodness, twenty years.

When you still live in the same town you grew up in, a "pinnacle" twenty-year reunion kind of gets squished in between already full weekends. For instance, the weekend of our reunion, my Friday night babysitter was hastily secured the day-of. And by the time we made it to the Saturday morning 10:00 school tour, we'd already participated in a 5K run and a football game. Takes the pressure off having to look good when you show up with sweaty kids, including one in shoulder pads, all of us looking very "Saturday morning."

I went to my ten-year reunion nine months pregnant. In fact, Hudson was born two days later - two weeks past his due date at that. I have vague memories of a very crowded Joe T's banquet room, a heavy belly, and wanting to sit down. So this time around, my twenty-year high school reunion was a ball for me - I felt alert, aware, and able to wear heels. And, I had the best guy in the room on my arm, which covers a lot.

By virtue of raising our family here in Fort Worth, I get to run into some of these friends from time to time. We see each other at Costco, on the soccer fields, baseball fields, in the hallways at school, (can you believe Esther's "new" kinder teacher is the ah-mazing Mrs. Plotner, aka Stephanie Bradley??!). So what struck me last weekend was not necessarily seeing my "Fort Worth" friends from high school, but rather those far away or who I never, ever get to cross paths with.

Gina Binger's smile still lights up a room. And I told Holly Hancock, despite a twenty-year hiatus, that I think of her every May 30th. Kiley Sandifer is even more beautiful now than in high school, if that's possible. Brian Dowling, Mike Teagarden, Yvonne Leonne, Burtrando McKay, Sandy Parker, Roy Whatley... to name a few. It's like opening an old perfume bottle seeing all these faces... distinct fragrances from those growing up years shine right through the twenty-year gap.

A few take-aways...

- Jenny Holton living in and running an orphanage in Mexico with her husband and three children. While on VACATION a few years back, their family volunteered for a couple of days in an orphanage, fell in love with the kiddos, and came back to the states long enough to sell their home and move south. Now they run a family-style orphanage in Mexico. Jenny doesn't speak Spanish. She was pregnant with her third child when they decided all of this. Her husband went from designing software (I think? Perhaps an engineer?) to now caring for scads of kids, playing with them, tucking them in at night. I tried unsuccessfully to lift my jaw off the floor throughout our conversation and as I perused her many photos of darling children.

- Seeing the meaningful, productive lives of all these girls I grew up with - Kristin, Kristen, Kristi, Jennifer, Jennifer, Jenny, Julia, Sherri, Lacey, Hilary, Eden... the list goes on. Makes me smile to think of these now-grown women as wives and mothers and how their lives have taken shape.

- Touring the school on Saturday morning with my family. Walking through the empty halls, memories rang out in every corridor. Faces of specific friends and teachers echoed in my mind throughout the tour. Someone commented that the cafeteria smelled the same. I passed by my freshman homeroom class, Mrs. Powell's, and remembered sitting in that desk my very first day of high school, wearing a black and white striped outfit from Express, practically jumping out of my skin with excitement to get out in those hallways and meet everyone. I remembered thinking, "There are 2,000 people in this building I need to meet!" Yikes.  I remembered my cheerleading sponsor yelling (quietly yelling - how is that possible?!) at me outside of her homeroom door, her eyes bulging, some cheerleading issue at hand (likely the wrong color hairbow?). I recalled the volatile pep rally strike against the "Rebels" mascot, a rude interruption to the announcement of Homecoming court. 

 
- I asked my parents if their ears were burning over the weekend. Because while people may have been mildly glad to see me, it was my family they asked about. Their memories of my parents constantly opening our home and welcoming them in, lemonade and pizza at hand, and how much use we got out of that swimming pool!

- Without question, Stephanie Weber made my weekend. Precious. 

Memories - good and hard, pleasant and difficult, all mixed in. What made the weekend special, what made it so fun to connect with all these people I share history with, is what it points to now  - that I get to say good-night and come home with Corbin to our amazing children and the life we have here. Grateful for reconnecting with dear people - and Holly - we'll see if I still remember your birthday by our 40th?!