Reunions and Anniversaries

This weekend, Bryann and I are heading down to Klamath Falls for my 10-year High School Reunion.  I think I'm the only one of my college friends to attend their 10-year reunion.  Most of my friends grew up in other states, but lucky for me, Klamath Falls is only a few hours drive south!

I'm excited to go.  The 10-year reunion is a spectacle about which movies are made!  People either dread them or look forward to them.  I've been looking forward to mine and I'm glad it's happening.  I was trying to explain to Bryann why I was excited to go -  he showed no interest in going to his (if it happens) and was wondering why I wanted to go to mine.  I had a fairly difficult time in high school.  I didn't have a good sense of who I was or where I belonged.  I think I had a different group of friends every semester.  I tried on a lot of hats.  The only constants for me in high school were Charissa Howard and choir.  I joyfully left high school behind and most of the people I knew with it.

Since then, I've run into random people in Portland.  I've gotten back in touch with a few on Facebook.  And everyone I run into, whether we got along in high school or not, has been really nice and genuinely friendly.  Everyone seems to have grown up, and grown into themselves.  I'm looking forward to coming back together with my classmates as adults, and swapping stories about the last 10 years.

This August also marks the 10-year anniversary of when I met some of my very best friends.  On August 23rd, 2001, I moved into Belknap 2nd at Willamette University.  Nate Trenholme had just returned from soccer try-outs and was setting up his oscillating fan.  Lucas Melcon came to visit me that evening and introduced himself as my bed-buddy (he had lived in my room and slept in my bed the year before...)  Later that week, Paul Garrett and John Boyer and I walked to Subway to get some lunch, and Jeff Nickerson helped us discovered Muchas Gracias.  Anna-Lisa joined our misfit gang shortly thereafter.  Various adventures and shenanigans ensued for the next 10 years.

Road Trip to Senior Year of College

I left high school behind to start a new life and give myself the chance to be a new person.  My friends at Willamette helped me do that, always accepted me for who I was (whether I knew who that was or not) and helped me grow into the person I am today.  I am so grateful for them and for their friendships.  This group of people has shown me what true friendship means.