High School

I don't know why, but lately I have had high school on my mind a lot. There are a number of factors, I know. My 10 year reunion is next year and I'd like to lose another 19.5 pounds before then. There is an alumni site for my high school and I just discovered two weeks ago that two of my friends from high school live less than ten minutes away (and we are all about 2.5 hours from where we grew up). And then, two nights ago, I had an unsettling dream that included the bastard ex-boyfriend who broke my heart when I was 17. You know, "the" one who, six and a half months later, cheated on me and ripped my heart into a million pieces of confetti.

Tonight I am taking Luke out to get coffee with the two friends who live nearby (well, he'll be playing with the train table while I drink coffee). It has made me reflect on the last 9 years and wonder what happened to all the people I used to know.

I googled a few names and came up with some entertaining results. The boy who dumped glue in my hair in sixth grade (but we were friends later) is now an attorney for the Congressional Research Service. The girl who I narrowly beat out as the top-most ranked girl in our high school class went to Yale and taught English lit in China for a year. And then there is the guy who I knew since seventh grade, the nice student-government type, well he's a medic in Iraq. And that bastard ex? A lawyer in LA. It's interesting to see what careers people have chosen and learn about what they are doing now.

I really can't complain about my life. I have a good job and marriage, and I adore my son. We own our own home and in another year or two we should be able to upgrade to an actual house. I'm in good health and the weight I'm trying to lose now is not so much at least (down to 144.5 yesterday, 19.5 more to go!).

And as much as I would like to, I cannot really even hate the bastard ex who broke my heart. If it wasn't for him I would likely not have ended up going to UCSD for college, and it was at UCSD that I decided to abandon my original pre-med plans and become an engineer instead. I am happy that I am an engineer; it suites me and it thankfully pays well too.

High school is still very much on my mind; I can't wait to see my old friends tonight and catch up. For the most part I have fond memories from those years; I had lots of friends, enjoyed school, and partied a little too. My home life was dreadful though, and I am thankful to be self-sufficient and out on my own now. But it is interesting to look back on the last 9 years and wonder how one different decision here or there would have dramatically altered where I am today.