Eight girls from my high school graduating class got together this evening and met at a restaurant in the cities for dinner. Very fun, but also somewhat eye-opening. Blast from the past, that's for sure.
There were so many things to notice.
1. I do not know my way around the east side of the cities -- can't say I've even been to most of those suburbs. I also do not know downtown St. Paul at all.
2. Most any one of them who had belittled or badmouthed our hometown has never really gotten away from it. Going to school in the cities is not getting away. Even going to particular schools two and four hours away is not getting away because those sister colleges are so strongly affiliated with this town. This is not to say it isn't natural to badmouth your hometown, or that this hometown doesn't deserve it.
3. People change, yet they don't at all.
4. The cities is expensive. Living in the cities is expensive.
5. I am so behind the times for my age group in terms of fashion and sophistication. On the way out the door my sister scolded me for not wearing a necklace and made me put hers on. It got so many compliments...
6. Somehow, I know an overwhelming number of people interested in teaching -- this is not only among my high school friends. But, take this group in particular. Of the eight of us, take away me. Seven left -- one art teacher, one student art teacher, one ESL teacher, one youth pastor, one youth volunteer, one former English teacher.
7. Though I hadn't seen many of these friends in five years, we picked up right where we left off. We have a long history -- twelve years of going to school together or going to school with the same group of people. We grew up in the same community, know one another's parents and siblings... In college, relationships may have been deeper and were ... just totally different. Not that either one is better than the other, but this is something it's easy to forget about in college -- I have a long history with these people. It isn't neccesarily a good history, but history is history. It was almost like "this is the kind of person I was to start with," before learning about the other possibilities at college. Does that make any sense at all?
8. I still socialize better one on one than in large groups. :)
9. I hate dancing. Gosh, I hate dancing. It's not that I am morally opposed to dancing or think no one should dance, not by any means. I just particularly do not enjoy doing it myself.
10. I have had a very sheltered life in terms of exposure to drinking and drunks. I didn't hang out with big drinkers in high school, and wild parties were just not to be found at my college. None of my high school friends really went to colleges like this one. This is not to note the badness or goodness of shelteredness. It is just to note.
11. Tonight was a reminder that ring by spring is not the norm --- seven of the eight of us were single as heck. Though there was a brief discussion of how to flirt with your eyes in a bar. :)
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There's an interesting point you make in here about how college friendships are "deeper" and yet in contrast to the ones of your hometown, not ones that are rooted in an established community. Maybe that's what empowers people to be more vulnerable and thus add depth...the fact that this person doesn't in fact also have a relationship with your mother and cousin. Just a thought.
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