Jenison High School 10 year class reunion

This past weekend was our 10 year class reunion, and although I did not attend (in large part because flights from SF to GR are so expensive), it seems like a good time to say that I appreciate the time I had with you all.

I tend to look back at things through a rose-colored glass that probably makes what I say sometimes seem a bit “dramatic” or over the top or cheesy, and I don’t have the skill with words to properly convey a feeling. But, if you are the type of person who can watch a movie like The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which I watched last night for the first time – a bit “young” and obvious and hipstery perhaps, but a movie I “feel” and enjoy) and get a sort of warm, melancholy, significant feeling in your head, then know that that is sort of the feeling that I feel when I remember back on my time at Jenison.

I actually spent quite a bit of time typing up paragraphs of my memories that I wanted to point out, one paragraph for each significant memory, but honestly there are too many and I gave up. But, here is a much shorter, condensed version of some of those things that I remember and miss.

• Going over to Mikes house with Tim and playing Starcraft and Half-Life. Swimming in Tim’s pool and playing Battle Tanks. One of the best summers of my life I’d say, things were simple but also so new and exciting.
• Talking to GIRLS for the first time without feeling like a complete idiot (though mainly still an idiot) – VK’s speech class sticks out in my mind
• Seeing everybody in the hall. This is huge for me. Seriously, everybody. I would love so much to be able to walk through the hall again with everybody sort of awkwardly standing around (and if you were me, nervously, not sure what to do)
• Going to Curt’s house (with Kyla and Kendell and Jason) to make grilled cheese at lunch.
• Watching Kendell and his brother’s Kwasi and Kerry play video games in their basement
• A+ Certification aka 6th hour Starcraft with Andros, Andrew, Kendell, Dave, Jason. (I don’t actually remember if they were all in the class, but that’s how I remember it)
• Going to homecoming and prom and being miserably uncomfortable every second of it. To this day I am terrified of dancing. I would spend the entire night trying to look busy going back and forth between the bathroom and the water fountain and the [insert anything that’s far away from the dancing].
• Playing hockey. Driving to practice in Ryan’s car with the headlights turned off at night going much faster then speed limits permitted (this was both stupid and terrifying, but I remember it).
• Backpacking with Dave through Europe (this was actually post HS, but really part of that coming of age experience for me, and probably the last thing I really did before college came and life STARTED to get a bit more complicated)
• Building a tree house with Derek and Kc in the muck field (p.s. Kc thanks for the pop, I always appreciated it) – this actually happened in 5th or 6th grade I think but it was a highlight for me and worth mentioning – it was still our class of 2003
• The simple act of buying lunch, finding a table to eat at, and eating lunch – basically just being the person I was back in high school, around the people you were all in high school
• LAN parties with Andros, Phill, Andrew, etc
• Camping on the grass the day before the last day of school
• Swimming in Lindsay’s pool, with Lindsay and Lindsay and the rest of that group, in particular at her end-of-the-year pool parties
• Football games in the fall (I felt like such a “loner” most of the time, but those feelings of excitement and the unknown and the intensity when you walked by a group of people and made eye contact with somebody)
• Going to RiverTown by myself and walking around, sitting in Barnes and Nobles reading and feeling emo (this perhaps sounds depressing but was always awesome for me)
• Walking home from school with Lindsay through the muck fields (I still see Lindsay quite often as I live with her now)
• and on
• and on
• and on
• and on
• and on

So many people and things I remember, ALL of them fondly and with significance (and please know that this is not even a fraction of the people I think of when I think back).

Unfortunately I don’t really have a point to make. I guess I would just say that I miss you all and those simple (but very complex and exciting and sad and hard but awesome, thanks in no small part to hormones) times, and while I sadly interact with only a small handful of you at this point in time, I still really appreciate the memories I have of you all.