we're going to party like it's 1995

It was an informal reunion of my Junior High class. Yeah, not that I would like to reminisce my junior high years, but I missed the party during Thanksgiving, and the pictures looked so fun, I had to show up. I was so nervous, thinking back to all the insecurity and awkwardness of Junior High, and High School, come to think of it. But, I am so thankful I went. It was amazing to see how much people have changed, and yet hadn't changed either. I really felt like I could see what parts of people chose to bring with them into adulthood. To see who is still living with their parents, who is doing jobs they like, who are doing jobs they hate. Who is going to medical school, who is in law school. And two of the biggest screw-ups (by self admission) are now going to Columbia and Stanford for grad school (and they made my life such torture during group projects, where is the fairness in that?). And then there is me. I learned that I actually do have something to talk about. Even though no one has ever heard of SPU, I'm doing something I love, in a city I love, and that's what people want to hear about. They ask me about what I want to study, and I sound smart, throwing around sociological terms. No one cares that I'm only drinking water, and that I still play by the rules. Some of the cool kids were excited to see me, and there were still a few I wasn't brave enough to go up to and strike up a conversation with (not necessarily because I'm 100% wuss, more just because I wanted to offer more than "hey, what have you been up to for the last decade?" and I didn't have anything else). I left beaming, not just because I ran into my two biggest crushes (and I know with a bit of eyeliner and short hair I am a step up from my big t-shirt wearing days) and they both wanted my number (hee), but really because I am really glad that life for me isn't an extension of junior high and high school. I'm glad I have grown out of my awkwardness of those seven years, and that these last seven years have been years of growth and accomplishment. I was proud of who I was, of what I am, and where I am going. And not living with my parents still is a nice bonus.