Class of 2004

So my 5 year high school reunion is a week from today. Of course, that kind of landmark makes one pause a moment. The unoriginal question "where did the time go?" immediately springs to mind. But when I stop to ponder that question, of course it's easy to break down where the time did go. For most of us it's been four years of college and one year in the proverbial "real world". Ta da. Here we are. But still it's almost impossible to comprehend the speed of time in which all that has happened.

The other thing I realize is how much really has changed in that span of time. Or, more importantly, how much we, ourselves, have changed. For me, it's funny to think of who I was in high school, compared to who I am today. In high school I was shy, timid, studious, unadventurous, self-conscious, self-doubtful. And yet, incongruously, I was also confident in my abilities, competent and convinced that I was capable of great and interesting things. I've since grown out of that first, adolescence-inspired list of adjectives (and thank God for that). But, I believe the second list of qualities still holds true.  

I'm not actually attending my reunion, but if I were I'm sure I would be equally impressed with the changes my peers have undergone. In the past year I've actually caught up with some people who I went to high school with. I'd been out of touch with them for years. I was impressed by all of them, regardless of my naive, limited impressions of them from high school. I was also absurdly pleased with how well we get along now. It seems a testament to each of us not only that we've matured individually but that we can recognize and appreciate that maturity and independence in others. In some ways we have grown up together, yet we have each traveled very different journeys. Reconnecting at this stage brings with it both a comforting familiarity and an exciting newness. Cheers to you, class of 2004.