Tuesday, July 6, 2010.....
Recently, I reconnected with some friends from high school. On the way home from dinner I was talking with one of my friends (I drove) about how great it was to see everyone. It was just the 2 of us in the car and she said "No one has changed. Everyone is pretty much how they were in high school."
Initially, I agreed, but now I don't. I think if you don't want to see how people have changed, well, you won't.
For instance, we have a friend who can be extremely passionate and even animated with her hands when talking. Some may perceive her as being impatient because she can go from 0 to 50 in about 10 seconds. However, she's probably one the most patient people I've met. She works with special needs kids in the public schools and I think that requires a boatload of patience. I know I couldn't handle what she does.
I think people perceive me as laid back -- a go with the flow type person, but that is far from the truth. I'm a Type A personality who expresses it in a Type B fashion. However, I know I'm not the same person I was in high school. Cancer changed a lot of the way I make decisions or approach things. It's changed my priorities.
As far as my other friends, well, the ones I keep in close contact with are a work in progress. I see them spring boarding off who they were when we were kids into a different person today.
15 comments:
i would have to say i think i have come full circle...i was pretty laid back in high school...got rather intense afterward and have found my way back. cool that you have reconnected...
I very much agree whith what you say about choosing to see what you see. I also think that very often people only look at other folks ina very superficial (how d'you spell this?) and probably during Highshcool is the deepest they'll ever get to know people? So that years on they remember the way they remember a person and lokk at the surface and say 'he/she hasn't changed'.
Also (personal experience here) at a reunion one does tend to project what one wants the others to see- its one evening only...
But reunuins are ALWAYS interesting- even for the wrong reasons....!!!!!
"I think people perceive me as laid back -- a go with the flow type person, but that is far from the truth. I'm a Type A personality who expresses it in a Type B fashion."
Wow. This statement could also describe me perfectly...
Sounds like you know the ways you have grown up and also grown emotionally through the experience with cancer. My daughter is type A personality and I am not and I admire so many things about her. I bet you are admired like that too.
Great post today. I liked what you were saying. I don't think I have changed drastically, but I have grown up. Things are much different than high school and I don't see anyone staying the same. Life is full of changes that alter pieces of you.
Hope you have a great week = )
Oh God - I hope people wouldn't think I was the same as when they knew me in high school - I was naive, made poor choices and didn't have a lot of belief in myself. I have grown up and become comfortable in my own skin. But I am proud to say I am still loyal and fun loving. I do wish I was still able to eat anything I wanted without gaining an ounce though ;0)
I like to say that I'm not the same person I was 10 years ago, and I hope I'm not the same person in 10 years that I am now.
If you're not changing, you're not maturing.
If you're Type A, but act like Type B, you have mad skills!
I think I'm like you-- Type A with a Type B delivery.
I haven't reconnected with high school friends in years. tough. not sure I'm up for that yet.
xo jj
I never really associated with too many people in high school and don't really have the desire to do so now.
I don't think I've changed much at all. A little older. A little fatter but I'm still the same person.
I haven't been to any of my reunions. I don't think I'll ever go either. I'm still in contact with a few high school friends and that's all I need to know.
What an interesting post. I don't think I can generalize about my friends from high school. We're all over the country at this point, and what I can definitely say is that we've all grown. A couple have gone all "right wing" on me...but I guess you could see that coming, knowing their parents... But several of my friends seem to have the same wonderful qualities that I liked as a kid. Maybe that's the key: what part of them do you look at? I'll have to give it some more thought (and maybe post about it sometime.) Thanks for the interesting thoughts!
Life throws us way too many curve balls for us not to be changed in both small and significant ways. Anybody who says they haven't changed? I don't believe it for a minute. But it's all relative to who's doing the looking and who's actually living the life. We can talk ourselves into or out of anything.
I think old friends are the best friends to have!
I haven't changed a bit since kindergarten...I still act 5 years old...even through the cancers, transplants and other life changing events that happen to us all, yet I am still in touch with old friends who may not be around all the time but are there if I need them. Nice post.
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