I contemplated hard on whether I would write about going to my high school reunion after 20 years. But I’m a writer so I must use it all. 20 frickin’ years. Even saying that makes me feel some type of way. Where did the time go? I can remember everything like it was yesterday. My first day of high school roaming the halls trying to get to class, navigate my locker, and make a new friend. Worried about how I looked and if I was cool enough, smart enough…enough enough. It’s funny how the mundane experiences you have early in life shape who you are. You can become defined by those experiences; by the memories and stories you have in your head. But the beauty of life is we all grow, mature and evolve.
At our reunion, our name tags had our senior class pictures on them. I looked into the face of the girl I once was. Compared to now, she was a baby but was always trying to be so adult. That girl who was super insecure, skinny, a nerd (or blerd as we are now referred to), a princess, a minor rebel (my dad didn’t want me to date but I did it anyway and suffered the heartache), a romantic, an obsessive compulsive and someone who wanted to achieve academically.
Every day I sat in class with, ate lunch with and sang down the halls with the same people; a group of us being the only minorities in a sea filled with majority students. Our shared struggle was to get through our high school years and become as successful, if not more so, as our peers. And now 20 years hence, we’ve done just that. We’re doctors, real estate moguls, famed musicians, educators, and top executives in our field. We’re married with families that defy stereotypes and set the standard for living a fulfilled life. We will always be connected and bonded by that shared experience of Catholic high school in Chicago Heights. I have the memories of that time in my life when I was certainly searching for who I was and who I would become. I don’t think I could have anticipated the way my life unfolded based on choices I made, pivotal decisions that took me from the suburb of Hazel Crest, Illinois to several countries around the world and boardrooms across this great nation. But I do know that the girl I was and the turmoil and struggles I experienced throughout high school, undergrad and graduate school before I formally entered the workforce, fueled every single trait of the woman who pens this piece today.
Always a creative and emotional soul, I now embrace what I thought made me weak in high school. I’m vulnerable and open to life which is something that girl in the photo on my nametag would have never admitted. I will always have love for the high school version of me and for friends close and not so close anymore. Because love is an energy that can’t be destroyed and time can’t erase the remains. It just changes form to feed another source. Class of ’95, always kicking it live.
Lady C a.k.a. Paige a.k.a. Christina Crawford
P.S. As an aside, my A.P. history class was the absolute best during my whole four years! Shout out to Mr. Cleary!!
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