there was no "busting down" of any double doors

Last night, I was talking with my new best friend that I hardly know, and her old best friend (make sense?). We all graduated from high school ten years ago. Class of '95. Also last night, I took Curly with me to the store (for her bday party supplies), and we were listening to Rusted Root while riding along in Kari. (I'm not usually a fan of naming vehicles, but after that extra scene from The Incredibles, I just knew that Kari had to be the name of my car. Full name is Kari the Provo-mobile, as it is a white Ford Windstar with a Mary Kay sticker on the back window, and what could be more Provo than that?) Ahhh, Rusted Root. I've seen them in concert a few times, and it was always enjoyable. One show in particular sticks out when the bass player was laughing at my Burger King crown, and the opening band was called Bonepony. Ahh, the details I retain...

But listening to Rusted Root with Curly took me back. Thank you, Dick Clark, for telling us that music is the soundtrack to our lives. (Really?) Rusted Root means high school, which, for me, means early nineties. Grunge. Flannel shirts. Hiking boots. Kids at school wearing Keltys fit for a trek to Mt. Katahdin. Tye-die was in there somewhere, but not too much.

When my kids are older and hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit", will I tell them it's the anthem of my youth? I mean, not my youth, personally, but generally?

The thing that got me thinking while visiting with these two friends last night was, they had the same thing going on as I did, but they were in Provo and I was in Jamestown/Busti/Lakewood/West Ellicott (I'm still not quite sure from where I hail). We all read "Go Ask Alice" in middle school, and were quasi-obsessed with it. We had the same music, the same fashions, all grungey. (We also had a million differences, but that's another story.)

While some of those similarities are age-specific (class of 95, wherever you may be), others are age-general, or just school-general.

Here's what I mean by age-general: Li'l ~j. is now 6, and in first grade, so she says, "...sitting in a tree; k-i-s-s-i-n-g...", which is not only what six-year olds do in Provo and in Jamestown, and all over the place, but what they HAVE BEEN doing and will continue to do for...well, ever.

And here's what I mean by school-general: Cheerleaders are cheerleaders, and that's all there is to it. Know what I mean?

School-specifically, however, there are differences. Provo High seems to me to be a pretty large school, numbers-wise. Southwestern, not so much; fewer than 150 in my graduating class. Because of the smaller school, we had people that could be, and were, on the football team AND in the marching band. That's right, during half-time, they'd march in their football uniform. That's school-specific.

So, we have age-specific, age-general, school-specific, and school-general. Does that make any sense?

My ten-year class reunion was this summer. I've not written about it here yet because, well, I'm still processing it all. I had a hand in planning it, and, while it rolled along smoothly, it was NOT all I had wanted it to be (how much can I do, being 2,000 miles away? The locals got to do most of the planning, and they did a dang fine job.). But still, it was nice to see people. One girl, who I was very good friends with in middle school particularly, looked me right in the face and had no idea who I was. No idea. Remember, with a school that small, you can feasibly know most people, and well. Now, I know that I am atleast double the size I was in high-school, and maybe it was the fact that on the night of the reunion, my hair was blond(e) and straight (only for the night, or until I got it wet). Maybe that was all the difference needed...was my brown, curly hair my calling card? Was that how I was known? Or am I the odd one because I immediately recognized people and knew who everyone was?

There were some people that weren't there that I'd really liked to have seen. I also regret not talking more to some of the people that were there. But it was nice to see the people that were there. My favorite thing was that Mike Ireland was wearing a nametag that said Nader Geliel. Now that's funny.

My new best friend went to her reunion, as well (her friend didn't). She said that there was a group of guys standing in the corner, observing and talking about who was the "most improved". Huh. I hope that didn't happen at mine. I feel that I've improved about 3,000% since the day I graduated high school. That's not evidenced by any college degrees, of which I have none. Nor is it showcased by my body, the image of which I struggle with every waking minute, and even in my sleep. I'm a stay-at-home mom, with three beautiful daughters at home and a little boy in Heaven. I have a wonderful, supporting, loving, humble, patient husband who would do anything for his family, and works harder, WITHOUT COMPLAINT, than any man I know. I have my own business through a company that gives me unlimited potential and will assist me in making lots of my dreams come true.

And, I'd like to think the best of me is still hiding up my sleeve.