Old Friends

Last Friday, I attended the ten-year high school reunion of Central Visual and Performing Arts High School's Class of 1996. What a blast! It's really a fluke that I even got to go. The reunion committee couldn't find me. They were looking locally and under my maiden name. They didn't find Amy, my best friend, either. She was local, but now a Smith, and therefore a little tough to find. A friend of ours just happened to be at an event that used the same photographer that I used for my wedding. The photographer posted the photos on his website. When my friend went looking for her own photos, she found mine. Not many Schleichers around, so when she saw that name, she must have recognized me. There I was, in all my wedded bliss. We'd been emailing ever since. The reunion committee found her, I guess, and she found me. Isn't it funny how things like that happen...

It was more fun than I'd thought to see everyone and hear about their lives and families. Of course, everyone was excited for me when they noticed my own growing family. With Amy's own baby due three days after mine, we were known as "the mommies" and every picture with one of us also has the other. I guess not much has changed since high school. We were best friends then, and still are today.

Amy and I used to joke about being pregnant at the same time. When she got pregnant with Megan, her first daughter, I was planning my wedding. She told me I'd better hurry up. Two years later, we're both facing "surprise" babies, one almost on top of the other.

There were so many people I re-connected with at our reunion that I wish I'd had more time to chat with. I felt a sense of pride towards some of them--not that I had anything to do with their success, but just a general feeling of happiness for them, that they were doing so well. Some had abandoned or at least laid aside the music and art that was our focus in high school. Some, like me, had jobs that paid them to do what they loved then and still love now. I'm always happy for someone who's been able to realize a dream.

Now that I've been found, I'm looking forward to 20 years. I wonder where I'll be then...

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