C'est fini.

The reunion is over but I will still be seeing a few more folks today before I head back to Virginia Beach. Yes, I really tried to sleep in, again, but I couldn't even though I didn't go to bed until about 3am. It's a small comfort to know that even given the opportunity to sleep in I am unable to; my body just doesn't run on that clock anymore.

I am a bit tired but I feel the need to be reflective before that window of raw emotion passes. As I write this, I am a little sad at the thought of all of us, my high school friends that I've been meeting up with again all weekend, now returning to our normal lives. For a few hours we were hanging out (putt-putt, Bennigans) and chatting (so many funny stories!) and for a moment you could almost imagine that we still lived near one another. It amazes me that even though ten years have past and we have all taken our lives in so many different directions (I have so many smart friends too, by the way! And compassionate...working with refugees and non profits, doing enviromental work, missionary work, serving in the army and recently deployed to Iraq, etc.) yet, we fell right back into great conversation and I felt all weekend like we genuinely cared for one another. Don't worry, Liz, I still admire you even though you claim to have sold your soul to corporate america. (You didn't, btw.) I'm just suprised that you were able to hug a shark given that you felt the status of your soul was well, shall we say, in doubt?

I'd like to say that the actual reunion itself was magical, but it wasn't really. I did enjoy meeting up with my closest friends though and putting to rest the commonly held belief that these friendships couldn't be as meaningful as those since high school, simply because we were just teenagers. It's hard because I really had made my peace with never seeing some of these people again, but that whole process starts over now.

I'll miss you Robyn, Sarah, Liz, Polly, Jonathan, Jody, Matt W., Matt Stubbs... Please take good care of yourself and your families. We can't ever go back to high school, but we can come home again.