A decade later

A few weekends ago I got to experience my very first High School reunion.  I used to think that high school reunions happened in the very distant future- actually they happen so far in the future, its hard to even think about how far away they are.

Then all of a sudden it was here.

10 years since high school.

Seems a bit crazy.  I don't feel 10 years older than 18, but then again when people ask me how old I am I actually have to stop and think about it, because my automatic answer is 26.  I'm not sure why I stopped at 26, but in my mind I haven't aged a day in two years.

Actually, I think other people see me as younger than I truly am too, because I still seem to be getting a lot of disapproving "I think she is 16 and pregnant" looks.  It's true, I still have a lady at work who repeatedly asks me if this baby was planned.  What about me screams unstable to her, I will never know.

Ok, back to the reunion.

Of course I volunteered to be on the planning committee for this grand fete, because 1. I'm a sucker for party planning 2. I'm a control freak and 3. I didn't want it to suck and I'm horrible at placing my trust in others (I'm working on it).

We had a great group of planners, and we actually planned one great party (if I do say so myself).

We held it in a private room at the Garage on Capitol Hill, which has bowling and pool tables.  It is in a fun neighborhood which gave people options for dinner and lots of bars to head to for the after-party.

As the reunion got closer, I realized that I would be committing the biggest reunion fail ever.  I would show up fat and pregnant, instead of the look you are supposed to go for at your reunion; tall & skinny.

Lets be honest, I was never going to pass for tall and skinny even not pregnant. 

I am pretty much anti high-heels at this point, and so the tall part was out, and there is no way, even if you squint with both eyes and use your imagination, that I'm looking anything like skinny these days.

Actually one of my biggest successes each day it to try to define the space between my stomach and my chest, so I don't have one monolithic looking front section.

It was fantastic catching up with old friends, and surprisingly Facebook had not ruined all the surprises that reunions hold.  I found out very interesting things about my old classmates, none of which had been posted on FB- and most of them learned for the first time that I had either swallowed a cantaloupe, or was pregnant.

Everyone was very sweet and flattering, which was much appreciated, and I'll take any and all flattery pointed in my direction these days.

What was awesome, is that I was not the only pregnant lady.  And, apparently black and white stripes are the "in look" for pregnancy at high school reunions.

I only have stayed in constant communication with one friend from from High School. Sara and I were cheerleaders together and apparently that bond just can't be broken.  Her and her hubby (and their baby) come up for the weekend and we got to spend extra time with them, and then head to the reunion together (and the guys could hang together since they didn't go to HS with us).

Sara and I had some good times in high school (and beyond), and we found that we took some ridiculous pictures.  This is my favorite one that was from our slideshow.

Was the back-to-back pose ever a good look?  Probably not, but we decided to recreate it anyway.

 We also caught up with some of our other cheer mates:

 

I meant to take way more pictures, but managing an event while it is happening takes away from the time I could spend socializing and taking back-to-back photos (like I needed more of those).

I wished I could have talked to everyone and got way more pics,  but unfortunately I'll have to wait another 10 years for that.

Next reunion, I plan on not being pregnant and drinking- that would have increased the fun factor.

Oh and I have 10 years to work on that tall and skinny thing too.