Old Friends
High school has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I've had supper with an old friend who I've missed quite a lot over the years, shared emails back and forth with other friends, and most recently been discovered by an old boyfriend and renewed contact with my best female friend from high school.So, it is no wonder that I've been reliving those days in my dreams. But before I get into the reason for this post, I need a rambling moment or two.
I had some really great teachers in high school. No, really. I did. I had 2 really good French teachers, one of whom I still talk to now and then. I had a physics teacher who tried really hard to make the lessons exciting, but I'm afraid I retained little. He was great, though. So was Mr. Hall's AP Bio class. But I think my favorite teacher will always be Mrs. Mendro. Calculus is not fun for all of us. Mrs. Mendro - and I'll never forget it - gave all 14 of us in AP Calc an eraser on the first day of class. She said we were going to make lots of mistakes, and that was the tool we would need. She postponed an exam once when our Physics teacher told her we weren't ready. Then she held additional after-school study sessions until we all understood the material. I wish all teachers were so intent on teaching...what a world that would be.
But, I digress.
My stumbling trip down memory lane has reconnected me to some old friends. Really good old friends. I can't explain it, this comfort of knowing someone is both changed and largely the same. It is odd to find someone after nearly 13 years and still feel perfectly at home chatting with them. It is like a warm hug, or like getting that favorite sweater back out of a box. Well-worn and comfortable, smelling of good memories and fun times.
In high school, and I know that I've posted about this before, I was a part of a pretty tight group. We were 2 girls and 8 guys. That was the core group. Of course, there were always others added in at times, somebody or other's date or teammate, but the core always remained. We had quite a lot of fun.
The boys were never really good planners and relied on us girls to plan, coordinate, and disseminate information about the weekend plans. We did homework together. Ha! We even had our own Junior Achievement Company - of which I was the President, thank you very much. Christine and I would decide which movies we were going to, where we were going to eat, where we were watching SNL.... Of course, once the guys started getting driver's licenses things changed. All of a sudden they weren't dependent on us girls quite as much anymore. We were so very close. I used to talk to Matt when I was babysitting somewhere in the Hollow. Craig used to write me funny letters when I was away for the summer. Steve and Andrew used to write me poems in Mr. Lyle's Analytical Geometry class. Brad and I rubbed along like glass shards on silk...I'm still not sure why. Mark and Mickey could always be counted on to provide a laugh, when they weren't chasing after SpySistah (before she was a spy, that is). I miss them all so much.
College and life sent us all drifting in different directions. It would be really nice to get everybody together again. Maybe walk the Hollow one more time or just have a party. It would take an eternity to catch up on all we've missed. These were the people that made my high school experience. I could count on them and they knew they could count on me. So it makes me feel really...happy to be reconnecting with these people who were such good friends.
Maybe next year I'll work on reconnecting with friends and sorority sisters from college....
I guess I'm not as good at correspondence as I thought.
