No way, it's been 10 years??

Today at my place of employment is a big day for the seniors. It's senior farewell, the last hurrah before graduation next week. There has been a buzz in the building all week as the seniors took their last finals and let out a collective sigh of relief that they were finally done. If I were to be honest, I'd say that most of the seniors mentally checked out somewhere around March and I find their "relief" to be more of a show than anything else. I highly doubt most of them studied for their finals unless they were on the verge of failing, in which case their sigh of relief will not be warranted until next Tuesday when they'll find out if they can, in fact, graduate next weekend.

At the end of every year I enjoy the flurry of senior activities that take place. It's an opportunity for me to beam with pride for the students I've spent so much time working with and losing sleep over. Ok, I admit it! I also breath a tiny little sigh of relief that they're gone, if only because my workload becomes infinitely lighter. Don't worry, I don't have a heart of stone. By the end of June, I will truly miss my darling seniors.

Working in a high school usually gives me all kinds of reasons to remember my own high school experience. My first year here sparked vivid memories of pep rallies, football games, etc., mostly because it was interesting to compare my own memories with this school. Eventually, it wasn't such a big deal to remember high school, but this year is different. This year is my 10 year high school reunion.

I suppose part of me should be freaked out that it's been 10 whole years since I graduated from high school, but it doesn't feel like it's been that long. And, of course, with the ten year anniversatry comes the obvious reunion that's supposed to take place over the summer. Now, this has been interesting. My former classmates seem to fall into one of two categories: "definitely going" or "there's no way in hell I'd set foot in a room with you people ever again". I fall somewhere in between. I don't have any kind of desire to juggle my summer schedule to make sure I'm free on that date, but I also don't feel any heated animosity towards the idea. My general reunion philosophy is that I'm still in touch with friends from high school I'd want to see (which in some ways is unique in itself), so there's really no need to go. And I don't feel like it's been long enough for me to wonder what happened to the popular crowd that attened Young Life Christian meetings during the week and sold/smoked pot every weekend, or to wonder whether or not all of the beautiful people are now bald, fat or both. Yet some of my high school friends are consistently urging me to go. Why? I have no idea. I'm guessing I'll wait until it's closer to the date of the reunion and see if I'm free, and then make a decision. If nothing else, it could be a highly entertaining evening.

For now, I will settle for watching my current seniors walk across the stage screaming "Class of '05!!" I hope they know how fast ten years will fly by.....