CLASS OF '97

I never regretted attending my 10-year reunion at the last minute--you only get one. And I went and had a really great time. So when people asked if I was planning on going to the 20-year reunion I never gave a hard no. I just really didn't see the point. But knowing all my drama geeks would be in attendance I just had to say yes, and I knew I would be glad I went. Here is what I wrote on the reunion Facebook page: "Who else is coming tonight now because of peer pressure? I thought I was 20 years older, but I guess my "friends" can still make me do things I don't want to do after all these years. ;) But it's cool. If just one boy comes up to me and admits he harbored a painful crush on me all three years, but was just too shy to tell me...it will all be worth it." At the end of the day it was all worth it because it was seriously one of the best nights I had enjoyed in a long time.

One might not know this about me, but I am an extrovert. And the setting of a high school reunion is about the best place for me to be in the whole world. I get to walk around and say scandalous, shocking things to a bunch of people I will likely never see again. And the best part is, everyone else around me is in kind of a similar mood and the scandalous, shocking things are in general very well received.

Nicole, Bree and Bricky, and I met up at Nikole's house so we wouldn't have to show up alone. We waited in line to buy our tickets and I will tell you--I didn't recognize anyone in that line and it made me a bit nervous that I would regret coming. But once we got inside the fun began. We found Tyson and got to meet his adorable wife, who I instantly loved. Then I saw Bliss and Natalie from my ward growing up who I loved so much. I made it over to the table full of all of Stacy's best friends. They are always fun to see. They sat down at a table and pretty much just talked to each other the whole night, waiting for people like me to come up and talk to them. I was sure to get a picture with them to send to Stacy to make her jealous. (Although I am not sure it worked as she was not jealous.)

Whoever was in charge of decorating did a great job. The whole place had a really festive, fun feeling and it was such a beautiful night. They served dinner, but I never ate. I was just too busy chatting and running around to eat.

So obviously I went into the night hoping for a declaration of love, but really not expecting one. I certainly was not a hot commodity in high school. But still I was ever so touched when dear old Mike Gasik let me know that in seventh grade he really looked forward to sitting by me in our math class every day. Mike and I always have had a very easy friendship and it was so fun to talk to him. He married his high school sweetheart and they have kids that go to school with Stella now so that is fun. Here we are pictured with Tyler. Tyler and Mike were best friends growing up.

So pretty early on in the night I spotted my number one junior high crush. I had decided a while ago that if I ever ran into either of my junior high crushes I would tell them that I adored them back in the day. Why? Well, why not? Honestly, it's probably just to add a bit of excitement to my life, and I would kind of love it if someone told me that they had had a crush on me in junior high. Who wouldn't love to hear this news? So when I spotted my crush early in the night I knew I was going to have to get the guts to go over to him and tell him I adored him back in the day. I was telling everyone that he was here and that I wanted to tell him. Everyone wanted to know who it was, but I kept it to myself. Until I did finally admit it to one of my friends who then told me NOT to tell him! It made me a bit unsure, but I knew if I didn't tell him I would regret it. So I kept my eye on him most of the night. I was basically stalking him--it probably was a bit creepy. He was walking around the whole night with a friend that I didn't want to talk to so I just kept waiting for him to be alone so I could have my chance.

So when he started to come my way and was alone for one second I jumped at the chance like a crazy person. I made sure he knew who I was since I NEVER saw him in high school. And then when he did, I went right into it: "I have something I have to tell you." He asked if it was good or bad, and I told him that it would depend. Then I just went for it: "I just have to tell you that I had the biggest crush on you in junior high." His reaction was pretty adorable. He was surprised of course (obviously I was interested in the shock value), and then he seemed pretty happy about it. He then said: "Wait a minute, we had a lot of classes together, right?" When I confirmed this he said "Oh my gosh, I had a crush on you too. And I was such a dork about about it." OH MY! Yep, he basically just made every single day of torturous junior high memories fade into the distance knowing my feelings were not one-sided. It was basically the best outcome that I could imagine and it was so fun. We chatted for a while longer like old friends. He asked me what happened to me in high school and I said how sad I was that I basically never saw my junior high crush once in all those three years. Anyway it was amazing and I kind of felt like a superhero because I had the guts to tell him how I felt so long ago. It just felt like enough years had passed for it to be totally safe to admit how I felt back then. High school crushes...yeah, not sure I would tell them. I was sad to realize when I got home that my seventh grade crush was there too, but I never saw him. I would have totally told him as well, although I know for a fact that he would not admit to having a crush on me. We were definitely friends though and he was basically the reason I went to school every day.

After my delightful conversation, I made my way over to the drama crew and told them. They all loved the story, but Ian's response was the best: "Of course he had a crush on you too." Like it wasn't a question at all. I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking ahead enough to ask for a picture with him. I needed evidence.

It was about that time that all the drama crew gathered together with one goal in mind: getting into the drama room that was locked. Some of my peers were more motivated than I was and before I knew it, we were in! Talk about feeling like a reckless kiddo again. It was so fun. The room has changed a bit since then, but the stage was still there, and we made the most of it. So much time spent together in that room and so many fun fun fun memories. How did 20 years go by so fast?!

We then took a little walk around the school. I found my senior year locker and also a good guess at where my sophomore year locker was as well. It is really bothering me though that I have absolutely NO recollection as to where my locker was my junior year. I blocked so much of that year out as it was kind of unpleasant for me in the beginning. But I can't believe I can't picture where I went several times a day to get my books.

I really think Brighton High School is a terribly designed school. I have always disliked it. It doesn't have any windows or natural light in most of the rooms. Even the rooms with windows are dark. But it still is so full of memories and I'm so sad at the idea of it being torn down and redone. I was surprised how looking back I can only recall the good times, and the fun feeling of being that age and spending time with friends. I seem to have let go of the daily exhaustion and hate I had for some of my fellow students. And all the stupid busy work...ugh...

After all the excitement wore off I was exhausted. What a weekend! I had hardly slept and suddenly I didn't feel so good. So I called it a night and drove home like a drunken old man.  When I got in bed I realized fairly quickly that I was sick and couldn't breathe the whole night so I didn't get much sleep again. But man oh man was it ever worth it. What a great time visiting and reconnecting with friends that I love and loved so dearly during that time of my life. Being a teenager is so emotional that you don't realize at the time how dang fun it is. I wish I could go back, but since I obviously can't this weekend was the next best thing, and it was a delight.

Stella was insanely jealous of my whole reunion weekend so on September 1st when we were in the neighborhood I took her and Vivi on a little tour of the school. Stella was nervous the whole time because there were still teenagers there and also teachers. She was sure we were going to get into trouble. It didn't matter how many times I told her that we could do whatever we wanted--she was still on edge the whole time. But it was so fun to have my little girls walk those halls with me.