High School

A very crazy week opened up into a very nice weekend.  Friday afternoon I left work and met up with some of my old coworkers, two of my favorites, for a beverage.  I then came home and was able to relax and get a few things done.  I got up fairly early on Saturday and finished getting ready for Jill to arrive.  She got here around 11 and we didn't wait long before heading out to go shopping!  We hit many stores and this trip Jill bought more than I did!  I picked up a few things and got some ideas for future purchases!  When we planned the visit we had talked about going out to a nice bar for drinks and then go out to dinner.  But, after shopping til we dropped, we decided that doing Chinese takeout would be just as good.... better maybe because we could get in our pajamas kick back on the couch and keep catching up.  It was nice.

While we were out and about we ran into a lot of people, many my current students.  It was nice for them to acknowledge me in public!  It also made me smile because I was out and about with one of the few people I am truly in touch with from high school, beyond the facebook friendships.  I wonder which of my students who are now close friends will also be able to remain friends later in life.

Not sure if I have shared my story about my friendship with Jill... we were in the same grade in school.  We went all through school together and were probably in at last one elementary class together.  I always knew who Jill was and we were both girls scouts, though not in the same troop.  It wasn't until our senior year that we became friends.  At some point in my senior year I decided that I was not going to continue to spend time with the same people.  I wanted to get to know more of the people I had been in school with for all those years.  Jill and I  were in the same English class and at some point teamed up with another classmate to work on our English project.  Somewhere in the mix of project working we began talking about Prom... JIll had said she wasn't going to go and I questioned her about it... she had a lot of reasons and excuses for not wanting to go.  I remember a dress was on the top of that list.  We ended up finding one of my sister's dresses for her to wear and I think she went to the prom... Then at project graduation, our class had gone on a simple trip, to a YMCA for the night, and I remember spending time with Jill and some others who I had not been close to and I had so much fun.

From there we stayed in touch, not often really, but enough so that we knew what the other was up to.  She moved to CA several years ago and has been working hard to move back east. We would try to see each other when she was in Maine visiting her family.  Then finally in June she and her family moved to NH!  We are now close enough to visit.

I sit in my office during the days at work, meeting and talking with kids, often about the drama they are experiencing.  There is part of me that wants to tell them that the current things in life that are making them miserable are things that years from now won't be important... but I know that those words, coming from me, don't ring true for them.  And when I talk to them about who they lean on, depend on, and they tell me about their friends, I hope that those people stay in their lives, on some level.

High school was a good experience for me.  I was lucky.  But... I am in touch with so few of the people who were a part of that positive experience.  Visiting with Jill naturally brings back memories from high school... yes there is gossip about people we know...or knew... and seem glad that our paths have taken us through the journeys we have traveled.  I am glad that Jill is still in my life.  I am glad we are within visiting distance.

Thanks for making the drive Jill!  Hope we see each other again soon.