Just so this doesn't look like it came out of no where, I should mention that my 10 year HS reunion was last weekend and while I couldn't make it (something about living 3000 miles away... LOL) it made me stop and think about a lot of things.
The first and for whatever reason most important thing is in 2002, right before HS graduation I will always remember telling my family's neighbor how excited I was to go to college and how excited I was that my friends and I were all sort of staying nearish by so we could visit and get together, and how I was going to email and keep in touch with my friends who weren't staying so close by and all those cliche things someone says at the end of something. But I remember most, is her very distinctly telling me I wouldn't keep in touch with my high school friends, we wouldn't see each other, even though we said we would, because that's just how the world works, you grow up you move on and keeping in touch isn't as easy it sounds. I was floored by this bit of news, but decided to not let it bother (clearly it bothered me enough that 10 years later I'm telling you fine folk about it).
I don't think of the people I keep in touch with as my "high school friends" I think of these people as my "whole life friends" because many of these people I have known almost my whole life, or at least the parts of my life that really mattered the most. These are the people I went to elementary school with, middle school with, high school with and a few I even went to college with. And I'd like to thank(in chronological order) AIM, live journal, free after 9 cell phone minutes, free long distance on your cell phone, free mobile to mobile calling, unlimited text messaging, facebook, unlimited everything cell phone plans, getting a paycheck so we could afford to travel to each other, and skype for making sure that I can in fact keep touch..
And like I said maybe I'm not exactly BFF's with most of my graduating class, but it amuses me to no end that every now and then I'll get a comment or a wall post from someone in my graduating class just checking in or saying hi. In fact I'd like to think because of the huge amount of communication technology we now have at our literal fingertips I have become better friends with certain people from HS.
I like how get really really happy when I see a text message or a facebook post, or a phone call (I'm still bad at answering the phone I know!) from a friend who knows my whole life story and in spite of (or maybe because of!) it still wants to be my friend. I love how the best part of saying goodbye to these people is the chance to say hello again, and how happy and excited we all get counting down the days till we can see each other again.
Because there is nothing in the world like the balm to the soul that is being surrounded by old friends, nothing in the world like knowing no matter what these people will love you for who you were, are and becoming, nothing in the world like hugging someone you've missed for a long time!
So, I guess in away my neighbor was right, I didn't keep in touch with my HS friends.
I just kept in touch with my friends that I love now just like I did when I had that conversation.
I said this was a love letter to my graduating class, so here's to you class of 2002...(some of these apply to everyone, some apply to small groups, some apply only to certain specific people)
The people who apparently love chicken patties so much that our class president ran on a platform promising them everyday.
The people who were in the classroom with, or down the hall from on 9/11.
The people who know "it's up to you in 2002!"
The people who were told by advisors or teachers, or even parents or other students that they couldn't do something, and then did it anyway... (especially those at the bottom of the alphabet LOL)
The people who heard Eve 6's "Here's to the Night" the summer before senior year and took all the words to heart.
The people who used all 4 years of HS as their very first "Metamorphosis"
(and to the people who were fortunate enough (or maybe unfortunate enough) to hear my very impassioned speech on Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" that Gregor Sampson was not in fact actually turned into a bug... I stand by this)
The people who didn't have an iPod in HS, because iPods weren't a thing until right before we graduated.
To the people who have the yearbook signed by 2002's best Dressed Mindy Fhoweveryouspellit with note to save it because someday she was gonna be famous!
To the people who were fortunate enough to meet the cast of Hedda Gabler in NY, because our awesome teacher happened to know one of the actors (and thus remember the line "Hi my name is (name) Mr. Hynes is my teacher...")
The people who still get choked up when they hear "With One Look" or "On the Waterfront" The people who still cringe a little when they even hear the words "Russian Christmas Music" or "hoods" and still smile when they hear the opening chords to "SCHERHAZADE"... the people who know that sometimes getting demoted is the best thing in the world.
The people who can finish the speech "you're gonna get your butts kicked, you're gonna your asses handed to you..."
To the few people who still my Gimpy...
The people who have a hard time turning off "Oh Holy Night" when it appears on your playlist and it's not Christmas time... for that matter who have it on their playlist at all times.
The people who don't think it's strange when you find yourself humming and maybe still singing a long to Carmina Burana.
The people who swing around lamposts and ask "what'cha knowing?" , the people whose hands still burst into jazz hands at the words "bop... bop bop"
The people who "studied" for the AP history exam by going to Taco Bell and then had to break into a friends house because she locked herself out.
The people who created and participated in the first ever Youth Bureau Lockin
The people who remember the time The Ghost of Christmas Past was a "little late"
The people who understand the phrase "watcher man in all that tweed..." and "star wars puem puem" and understand that strawberry is the opposite of banana (or stake for that matter)
The people who understand what "not in my car!" "you save my ass, I'll save yours" "partners in crime" mean
The people who were rivals in HS who are now people you can't imagine your life without (you totally know who you are!)
The people who went to "college to get more knowledge" and participated in senior walk around the block with balloons day, who were destined to become the "best and the brightest"... who went to college when the economy was still booming and graduated just in time for it start to fall apart...the people who survived in and maybe even thrived in the worst recession our generation has seen... the people who haven't give up yet.
The people who are fortunate enough to remember that we were a class of people that didn't have a clique problem, a class of people where the football players and cheerleaders were also in the school plays or the band, the 'smart kids' were also jocks, the quiet kids also burst into song, the class who managed to work together to get shit done and get shit done right!
Again, I look back on my time at HHS with love and gratitude, not only to my class, but to our teachers, and our parents. It was quite a ride, but the last 10 years have been an even crazier one, and while I enjoyed my time at HHS, let's be real, I wouldn't do high school again.
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