MHS 2004 Reunion

A married future lawyer, a recently engaged economics graduate, a single future therapist, a married soon-to-be band instructor, and a “gotta be getting engaged ANYTIME” future veterinarian.

No, these aren’t five characters from a soap opera (well, I suppose they could be since I don’t watch that stuff! HA!). These are the descriptions of five Mehlville High School graduates who reunited during the Christmas holiday for the first time since their high school graduation over four and a half years ago.

Description #1: Alias—Amanda
Description #2: Alias—Karla
Description #3: Alias—Kimberly
Description #4: Alias—Shana
Description #5: Alias—Susan

One should never argue with a previous Chaplain (so saith the Psalms…or something like that…HA!) As my Chaplain of a year ago, Mrs. Williams (AKA Sharon), once said to me in an email, “You really have a gift for making things happen girl!” so in hopes not to let her down, I decided I need to put my “gift” to use during my short time back in St. Louis because the more thought I gave it, the more I realized I don’t know when my next appointment will bring be back up that way! ;)

So I went out on a limb. I called some of my close friends from high school who I haven’t seen since graduation, and only actually kept in touch with via email on a once or twice a year kind of basis.

Much to my excitement, they all obliged to the get together! So it was scheduled for the next night at one of my “Missouri misses”….AKA Steak ‘N Shake…what can I say, they don’t have them in Abilene…and have only recently been brought to the metroplex, so the few they have are at least 20 minutes from my house. That’s a ways to drive for a GREAT milkshake and burger and fries! ;)

So, I get there a little early and stay in the parking lot in my car jammin’ out to my Kelly Clarkson cd. I gotta admit, I had a slight sense of nerves. I think it was more that excited nerves, but you know…still some of the you don’t know what to expect nerves! ;)

So we all arrived! The five high school girlfriends and a new addition (no, not a baby, but a husband!) Shana introduced us to her husband AJ who was a really nice guy.

It was funny how quickly the time flew too! I mean we just chatted about anything and everything. Mainly catching up on who people knew things about folks from our past. Trust me, we went through EVERYONE we could remember their names from high school, whether we liked them or not…HA! Heck, curiosity gets the best of you! You wanna know if those kids that were punks in school ended up “making anything of themselves” following high school!

After we’d been there for about 2 hours we felt bad for holding our waitresses table that long, especially since we were a group of all recent college graduates. Interpretation: that means we weren’t going to be leaving a huge tip, it ain’t like the money comes rolling in immediately….HA!

So, what all was gained from that portion of our get together?
--it was pointed out that I haven’t changed a bit from high school. Still annoying and single. No, just kidding…apparently my sense of humor was exactly the same. And I still enjoyed pestering Karla…HA! She knows I love her though!

--we all seemed to have difficulties remembering our peers names from high school….and to think…it had only been a little more than 4 years.

--I had the biggest problem with the name thing....let me explain. Okay, so Shana (one of the girls there with us) pronounces her name “Shane-uh.” Got it? Well, the whole time I kept catching myself referring to her as Shawna pronounced “Shaw-na”…HA! Luckily I didn’t say it to her or even where she could hear me until once at the VERY end when she was getting up to say goodbye. CRAP! So I immediately had to go into my explanation. I must admit, I have never seen or heard the name “Shana” except for this one friend, so it isn’t a common name in my opinion, so I just kept thinking of the name “Shawna” which is a friend of mine from back at ACU. Dangit! Stupid me! Oh well…she laughed it off as I did.

So as the last four of us decided to leave, we decided to head back to Amanda’s apartment because I needed some more high school friends catching up time. And of course, I convinced them that they needed it too…HA!

So back there we busted out the high school year book and talked some more. Then it was me wanting to try to call some of these people. HA! So we busted out a phone book to try to find phone numbers. Of course I was the only one willing to call, I suppose it’s because I just don’t care…HA! Especially since the majority that we were trying to get a hold of were guys. Heck, I wasn’t one of the married ones, and honestly, I could careless if they ended up thinking I had some crush on them, because I knew I didn’t and heck, in less than 24-hours I was gonna be on my way back to Texas, not to return to Missouri for who knows how long. HA!

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, I don’t know) we weren’t able to get a hold of anyone. So after some pictures that I made them take because I need memorabilia in Texas…HA….we called it a night around 11:30ish I think it was; maybe closer to midnight…who knows.

So, who says high school friendships don’t last? Yeah, maybe distance has kept us from seeing one another, or even really the from regular contact at all, but you can’t tell me the five of us sitting around that table that night at Steak ‘N Shake weren’t still friends! It felt like our fun times back in the halls or classes at Mehlville to me, except this time we all had college degrees under our belts! Yep, all of us got our undergraduate degrees in four years and have moved on to bigger and better things, whether that be married life (2 of them, soon to be 3 of them), graduate school (3 of us), or careers (soon to be 2 of them).

Long live friendships! They are what you are willing to make of them! Make them last!