I opened the new year with my 2.5 year high school reunion.

Two of my hometown friends invited me to a bbq, but little did I know I would see countless former classmates I had not seen since project graduation. In the field I was surrounded by our old class president, the guy voted most intellectual, the snake and bug collector, the guy I thought looked like a lizard, the girl I had a crush on throughout eighth and ninth grade. We hugged, we laughed, we caught up... and for the most part I was done.

High school is over. I received my diploma in May 2000, but I didn't graduate until later that fall, when I had adjusted to life away at college and realized I was to grow in a life independent of high school. These people are no longer my true friends, no longer the people I choose to have those intimate conversations with, but I enjoy seeing them grow with me. That way, I know I'm not doing it alone.