Reminiscing...

For the past month or so, I have been trying to remember my old self, through my old journals and pictures. The things that I had written are funny, revealing and sad at times. I wrote many entries that started off "Today I woke up, got ready, and went to school. I went to all my classes." I do not understand the significance in writing that last sentence. I don't remember skipping class enough to warrant writing that I was there the whole time on some days. I do remember skipping seminary, of all classes, to go mack on a boyfriend. Not my finest moments. And yes, that is plural. I did skip Yearbook to go get breakfast for the class, many times. Okay, maybe I did need to remind my future self that I did make it through a whole day of school more than a few times. I wasn't part of the popular crowd. Not that I thought I needed to be popular. I had my little group of girl and guy friends from my year, a group of boyfriends from the year under me, and a handful of loner friends. Those are the friends I hold dear to my heart. I wrote "I love 'so and so' " a lot at the bottom of pages. I did my fair share of driving around in my Thunderbird with the broken window, or my Jeep, talking with friends. If I ever went dancing, I managed to remember all the guys names that I danced with and wrote whether or not they asked me, or I asked them, and phone numbers if given. I watched supposed boyfriends cheat on me, right in front of my face, and then try to say that the girl was the one that made the move. I wrote about all those breakups. There were plenty of shenanigans like, toilet papering, driving by boys houses, leaving notes (or Oreo's) on people's cars. Going to court for 'criminal mischief'. Climbing on schools, churches and malls. Running from the cops and almost getting hit by a cop car. My graduation is in there. It's one of my favorites. It started off a sunny day, graduation was outside on the football field. The sky turned gray, the Ghostbuster clouds rolled in and when the principal announced our class, our caps flew up as a torrential rain fell down on us. This is my good friend Jeewon and me hugging after graduation. We are totally soaked from the rain! Check out the pool behind us... Apparently someone at Alta's graduation got hit by lightning. But still, those were the days. Just get up and go when you wanted, hanging out with friends until curfew, if you had one, going on endless drives up the canyon, talking about nothing and everything, sneaking over to a boyfriend's house and tapping on their window, just to say 'hi'. Anticipation of new loves, crushes or objects of 'desire'. First kisses, first dates, first loves. Forbidden dating in the workplace, even with managers. Filling a friends van full of popcorn (hey Johnny). Embarrassing moments, all there in my journal. I'm glad that I kept a journal, so that I could have some laughs the older I get. There are things that I'm not proud of, but I'm glad I got to experience all of those things. I'm also glad that even though I wasn't a religious kid, my friends were, and I think that they are the reason that I am still alive today. Thanks! I think it's important to remember where you came from, the friends that you had, the memories you made. Fortunately, I've managed to either stay friends or find some of those people I treasure, through the power of the internet. It's fun to go back and read about all the adventures. I hope that everyone has a journal like the ones I kept. I hope you all can remember your old self and smile :)