Last week I received a message from one of the liveliest, funniest girls in my high school class. She’s the blond with the big smile on the far right.(You can guess which one is me.) 
She was checking to see if I had any pictures from a musical we were in together. Why? To post them for the 25th anniversary of its performance. Gulp.
I’m no fan of using decade(s) to measure my past. This week is full of reminders that I’m squinting to see my youth in the rearview mirror.
Yesterday I was with another hometown friend I recently bumped into after not seeing her for 22 years. She and her siblings went to school with my step-brothers and I knew her as “the little sister.” Now she’s got 3 cuties of her own and she’s even prettier and sweeter than “way back when.” Catching up was a hoot.
Another of my best high school buds was a foreign exchange student from Belgium. This Friday she’s bringing her daughters all the way across the pond so our families can meet. Her eldest is a law student (which may qualify us for “older than dirt” status.) 
Maureen visited in 2010 for the first time since we were kids. She brought a stack of letters from 14-year-old-me. They were full of pain and confusion. When I wrote them my parents were newly divorced, my step-family situation was off to a rocky start, I had just accepted Christ, and oh…there was that pesky problem of adolescence. As Grandpa used to say – I was a bag of cats.
I didn’t know where I fit in my own family, much less in my school or the world. Now I know exactly where I belong because of Who I belong to; which makes me truly grateful for 4 things:
- Friends who stuck with me through my weirdness. {Thanks for loving me still – now that I’m older & weirder.}
- Mentors who showed me how to find answers to life’s questions from God’s Word. {I want to be like you.}
- God’s transformational mercies…which turn bags of cats into lives of contentment and purpose.
- We’re only teenagers once. {Oh, thank you, thank you Lord, that we get to grow up!}
What part of your “growing up” makes you the most thankful?
I LOVED my time of working with you at the ice cream shop! I remember when you were in Music Man WAY back when, too. My nephew is in it this time around! As far as the “older than dirt” comment? You’re younger than me and I graduated with Maureen, so…what are you trying to say!? Please tell her I said hello and have SO much fun while she’s on this side of the pond!
Whoops! What I really meant was, er, kids just seem to be getting younger these days! ;)
Kelly, I gotta say, even though I’m just a smidge younger than you – I count you in my “mentor” category. You were one of the first young people I knew who really knew who they were, and were unashamed! Did I ever tell you that you got me hooked on Michael Card? ;)
What role is your nephew playing?
I will surely send your greetings to Maureen!