Because I grew up in a small town, my graduating class was pretty close. I was never a popular kid, but I did hang out with the popular kids, mostly because I dated a football player. My group of friends was really large, and we did a lot of stuff together, usually every weekend. Most people dated within the group, and lots of lasting friendships were formed. But I was also good friends with some people outside the group, and because I was in the band, had a third social set of people who were also friends, but we were never really close.
When we graduated, a lot of those people stayed in touch with each other. Sadly, I was not one of the ones who did. I focused a lot of college, and getting out of my small town to go to grad school. It was not until I moved to Pittsburgh, all alone, that I realized how much I missed those high school friendships. At that time, Myspace was pretty popular, and through it I reconnected with a ton of people from high school, some from my close friend circles, some from other social circles. Many of us realized that we had a lot more in common than we thought, and new, adult friendships were formed with people we had know, yet not knows, our whole lives. I considered myself lucky to have gotten this chance to really know people.
As the years went on, we were having babies, getting married, moving, going back to college, getting new jobs. In short, life took over. But thanks to social media, now mostly Facebook, we still got to keep in contact.
Last weekend, I got to go home and visit with some of the girls I have reconnected with, to help celebrate the birth of K's daughter, Samantha. We had a baby shower, and got to catch up. I had not seen any of them since I had gotten engaged, so it was nice to see them, hug them, and spend some quality time together.
K got some great stuff for baby S, and I must admit, I had a blast shopping for baby stuff. I also made a plaque and matching frame for K and S.
I am so thankful that as an adult I have had a chance to renew these friendships, and see such blessed events in the lives of people I care about.
