I've been bantering back and forth with some high school friends on Facebook, and I thought I'd write a little bit about it since it's been a while since I blogged, and I know you're all missing me, anyway. :)
I graduated from high school in 1998. My graduating class had between 80 and 90 kids. Not bad for rural, total small-town Minnesota.
I think of our class has having something like a "caste" system...the popular kids, the kids stuck kind of in the middle, the semi-outcasts, and the generally unpopular. I was one of the semi-outcasts, and I'll tell you why.
My family lived in a small, run-down farmhouse 10 miles from town. My parents never made a lot of money. I never had the "Girbaud" jeans, never had a silk shirt, never had a B.U.M sweatshirt, or E.N.U.F t-shirt. I had elastic-waisted jeans and I sometimes had to wear the same shirt twice in one week, because we couldn't afford for me to have a "wardrobe."
My little group was pretty close. We'd meet in the hallway in the morning and between classes to chat, passing notes, and spending time on the phone in the evening. I know the other groups were close, too, probably doing many of the same things that my bunch did.
Now that I'm an adult, and I've experience a whole lot more, I get it. Most of the popular kids, and a major portion of kids in the "stuck in the middle" bunch, I really couldn't care less about. They haven't grown up, gotten some normal-people priorities, or are still just way too good for me. We have absolutely nothing in common. I wish them well, but I don't want to waste my time or energy thinking about them, or caring. In fact, as soon as I'm done with this, those people are getting trimmed from my "friends" list on Facebook.
I keep in contact with the people I want to keep in contact with, even if it isn't as frequent as we'd like. I think of my high school friends, and pray for them often. These friends are the ones that helped mold me into who I am as an adult, and I am forever grateful for that.
At any rate, there is life after high school...SO much life, and it's so much better than I ever imagined. I am glad I never have to go back there, and I'm so excited to go FORWARD.
My high school friends...the REAL ones...know how very much I love you from afar.
