You never truly leave high school

I graduated from high school in 1990. You'd think that almost twenty years later (ouch that hurts!), I'd be over it. But do you ever really leave high school?

I had a graduating class of twelve. Yes, twelve. It was a small church-school with a total of 235 students from kindergarten to 12th grade. I sat in classes with the same core 10 or so people from seventh grade until graduation. Some years, we had a few other people. Some years, a few less.

It was that microcosmic universe of people and ideology that made me run for the hills when I graduated. I blocked out a lot of the experience and even threw out my yearbooks about 5 or so years ago. I had no desire to go back to that church or school. There were only a couple people I was interested in hearing about or meeting back up with.

But as time has passed, people have found me. And I have found that I'm a bit more curious about where they all are in their lives than I ever thought I would be. So through Classmates.com, Facebook and MySpace, I have, with no small amount of trepidation, been testing the waters and slowly making myself available to this small group of alumni.

Most of them have continued in the religious teachings of the church and school but a few haven't. While I respect the choices they have all made, I find that I really don't have a lot in common with most of these former classmates. The one person I never, in a million years, thought I'd ever have anything in common with has surprised me the most! I've reached out and hope to hear back.

I'm past all the insecurities of being sixteen years old and trying to find a social niche in a group of 12 people. I'm past all the gossip and pettiness. I'm past all the failed friendships and relationships. But I'm not past being me. I'm happy with the me I am today and am happy to share me with these people from my past.

Who knows, maybe we'll find something besides high school to bond us together again.