Memories.... Sing it with Me!

Maybe it is the heartfelt posts I have just read on my friends' blogs. Maybe it is the fun conversations I had with my mom today. Maybe it is the fun evening I had with my family doing nothing special but loving each moment of it. Maybe it is the wine I have had. Whatever it is I am feeling loving and sentimental. Don't say you haven't been warned.

First I am feeling gushy over my family. Not just those I was raised with or married into or built with my hubby, but the family I have chosen and God has given me along the way. Wow I am so blessed I could have an entire blog dedicated to just proclaiming my blessings and my thanks for each one of them. I pray He knows how I know they are each a gift from Him and that I am forever grateful.

Second I have to sing the praises of Facebook. Geeky I know but deal with it. This past week I have had the pleasure of reconnecting with two people from my past (very Soap Opera of me I know).

One is a friend from when I lived in Middlesex, New Jersey from 1984-87. He was this hilarious and kind boy in my class named Chris. He lived right up the street from me so we sometimes walked home together, he with his younger brother and me with mine. The first time I played King of the Hill was with him and his best friend Tim. I am pretty sure I lost and Tim won. Chris lived in a cool turn-of-the-century home I was so jealous of because I lived in a new home. He did a funny little dance just moving his feet that I cannot explain but it cracked me up. On a whim I checked out the public high school in our tiny town (we went to the Catholic elementary school) on Facebook and there he was!

Middlesex was the type of place where we knew everyone. At least it seemed that way. The strange man who I think was albino and who owned the garden store across the street. The couple who set up hundreds of blow up Easter decorations in their yard each year. As kids we had the run of the neighborhood. As long as we came home when we heard the siren go off (imagine air raid siren each night at 8pm) we were good. We rode bikes up to the A&P to buy stickers for our collections and loved Slush Puppies. The ice cream man sold Italian Ice that I have yet to find anything close to it anywhere else. There was a small river that cut our town in half and was dammed so we called it the Duck Pond. In the summer we fished and played and got poison ivy. In the winter it froze and we spent countless hours ice skating and playing hockey. There was some sort of Revolutionary War marker near the dam - a fort was once there or something.

Oddly enough the 20 odd years have not changed Chris much! Well except that he is married with a little boy. He is still so funny. It has been fun reconnecting with him.

The second is a girl I went to high school with named Jenn. She was a year behind me and we were band geeks together. We were the cool band geeks though because we were percussionists. Well that is what we told ourselves anyway. Her mom is seriously one of the sweetest people I have ever known. She altered some dresses of mine for school dances and performance groups I was in when I was broke. Jenn still looks the exact same even though she is married and has an adorable daughter. She has a large family and even though she complained about them (hey, we were 16) I could tell they were very loving.

I also have had the joy of reconnecting with a good friend from high school Maggie, who I was in several choirs together and had many wonderful times together. She had the most amazing voice I have ever heard. She is still as beautiful and genuine as she was *cough* years ago and also is married with a beautiful daughter.

I wish I had a picture to show you what I looked like in High School. I will look. For now just imagine me with longer hair and much less weight (I was a rail) and maybe a bit more attitude... ok a lot more attitude. I varied between good girl and rebel. I still have my leather biker jacket! I loved choir and performing. I rarely attended classes that were not music related. I with a couple of friends convinced our principal to open the old tennis courts as a smokers area. I partied a lot but not hard... usually. We hung out at Denny's nearly every night working on homework (rarely), drinking coffee (lots), smoking (lots), and thinking we were so brilliant and philosophical and that we were going to change the world. Maybe we did. Maybe we will. What I do know is that I have come a long way since then, changed a TON, and value each memory and person I shared this time with immensely. I loved high school. I know not many people can say that but I truly did. I had great friends and a lot of fun. I would not go back because I love where I am now but it is fun to remember.