I, for one, can't wait.

I had an interesting conversation with some friends about something that is going to happen for me next year, and has happened to some of them already.

The high-school ten year reunion.

I, for one, can't wait, whereas some of the other people I've talked to are dreading it or just didn't go.

They argue that they don't want to go back and show everyone you shared your hopes and dreams with in high school how far you've fallen short. They don't want to go back and see the people that used to torment them. They feel insecure and that everyone is going to judge them on how their life is going.

Isn't that the whole point of the ten year reunion?

I remember a time when I was in 9th grade and a couple of girls I was friends with told me, to my face, that they had no hope for me. It hurt a lot, and has stuck with me all these years. It galvanized me, though. To be honest I probably wouldn't have made it through high school if it wasn't for the way that one sentence, said by a couple of people I considered my friends, made me focus. That phrase turned into my motivation to succeed.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not petty. I don't want to go back and rub in everyone's faces that I'm successful, because I'm not supremely successful. I haven't made millions. Far from it actually. I don't drive a ridiculously fancy car, or have a swanky prestigious job.

I don't want to go back and show them that I'm in the best shape of my life. though by then it will probably be true, I'm not going back to show all those girls that turned their nose up at me in high school that they really missed out. Even though that is going to happen, it isn't the main purpose.

I want to go back and relive some of the good times we had when we were younger. I want to see how everyone else is doing. Did "whats her face" get into acting like she wanted? Did, "whos her whatsit" become the doctor that she planned to be? Did my child hood bully get into the NHL?

The answer to these questions is; probably not, but they may have gone a different direction. I know I did.

When I left high school, I was on track to be a psychologist. I was going to one of the better psych schools in Canada. I left and didn't look back. Back then, I thought good riddance and good bye. Since then, I've had what feels like a lifetime of experiences and I've grown up from the dorky kid that moved away from that small town into whatever you want to call me now.

I haven't stayed in contact with many of the people I grew up with but the ones I have are happy and that is the main purpose I think of the reunion.

I want to go to my reunion not to practice my one-up-manship or punch my tormentor in the face ,although... No, I want to share my happiness and to join in on others' happiness regardless of where life has taken them. I want to find out what the people I knew in my formative years are doing.

Sure I could find some of them on Facebook but isn't it a little awkward adding someone on Facebook after not seeing them for 9 years, maybe not you say. Well what if, when they tried to add me on Facebook a couple of years ago I turned them down or deleted them during a cull. Awkward now? Yea, that is what I thought.

Besides, I'm more of a face to face person. I even prefer to talk to myself when I'm looking in the mirror.

My reunion is only a year away which to me, means I should feel older than I do.

Later Days,
NtH