High School Revisited

Sunday is my official 10 year high school reunion. (edit: it's actually on Saturday, not Sunday - can't keep my dates straight!)

Unfortunately, being in Dublin as I am, I've had to send my apologies and will probably spend the day hiding from the rain and the cold that comes with Octobers spent in Ireland.

But it's got me thinking, in what could pass for nostalgia, about my high school days. I wasn't a huge fan of the place, being one of those geeky girls that didn't quite fit in with the "in crowd" who would, if my life was a movie, end up tutoring the stand-offish but really very sensitive captain of the football team who would then end up taking me to the prom, where I'd be transformed into the beautiful princess the viewers always knew I was.

Well, life doesn't actually work that way most days. I went to the senior formal (we didn't have "the prom" at our school) with my friends. I'm still not sure if any of the football team even knew my name. And we had the time of our young lives.

But it makes me realise how far I've come from that shy, slightly nerdy girl in high school. I've travelled to far flung places, lived in several, and had experiences many people would only dream of. Most of the people I now count as best friends I didn't even know in high school, and they all helped to shape me into the person I am today. In grade 12 I wanted to go into medicine so I could be a psychiatrist. Today I'm still curious about the way people think and why, but I am working in a hugely rewarding field and I love the feeling that comes from the knowledge that I'm making a difference.

I'm not married. I don't have kids. I still rent an apartment, because I don't own my own property (just as well given the current economic climate!) Any jobs I get are ultimately tied to funding constraints so I'm not even "set for life". I have a meagre savings that I'd prefer to blow on traveling the world. I have friends and family that I love dearly, and who love me too, just for being the person I am. I've made mistakes in life, and I've been hurt, but each mistake has made me a better person - a more real person.

And I wouldn't change that for anything.

Not even to have been the most popular girl in my high school, ten years ago.