My Favorite Part of High School Reunions...

20+ years after what was tagged as, “the best years of your life,” though while you’re in it and even after, you wonder, “what crack-head said that?” you have the opportunity to legally drink with people you shared tumultuous times with. High school had roller coaster ups and downs: highs like when that boy whose mere scent made your heart skip a beat stops and talks to you to lows like finding out the person you thought was your best friend was talking behind your back...all in the same day. High school was definitely, not the “best.” Depending on the eyes you looked through, any given day/friend/event/teacher could make or break what you thought to be your whole life at the time. But, you survived.

And 20+ years later, when you have the chance to lay eyes on others who traveled that road with you again, you wonder...What will they think of me? How do I look compared to them? Will anyone remember me? Will I remember anyone? With sweaty palms and in your party best, you walk forward into the unknown, almost the same as when you walked onto that campus for the first time.

Then, it happens: the best part. The bear hug of someone who truly, genuinely is glad to lay eyes on you. Someone who has lived to see this day and is happy to see you have as well. Someone who’s lived through moves, marriages, children or the inability to have them, divorces, lay-offs,  losing parents, bankruptcy, accepting their sexuality (sometimes even when everyone else knew). Those who have conquered living and have found the strength to exist in a way they could only pretend to in the past.

It’s that moment of embrace, release to study the face and the soul of a fellow survivor, and return to embrace, that makes attending what some feel is a charade, a true necessity. That one bear hug is a lifeline. A source of strength and energy reminding you of who you were, who you dreamed of being and that you survived it all to return that same soul filled embrace to someone you treasure and want to show that you honor their survival as well.

You survived, you learned, you thrived and are definitely NOT who you were. You made it. It may not be where you thought it was going to be, but those who did not make it show you what a winner you truly are.

Even if there’s only one bear hug of the evening, it’s worth it. You owe it to you. I will carry my hugs, until next time. I will continue to survive...and thrive.