has it really been 10 years?

yesterday was a big day; (other than being a birthday to someone dear to me) it was my 10 year high school reunion. after much deliberation i decided to pay the fee, and drive about 6 hours round trip and just go.

and i'm glad i did. i actually had a lot of fun catching up with people, and jesse' helped me with the driving. and everyone that was present (about 25 of my classmates and their significant others, to be exact), was really very nice to me. except for about one person.

this is the whole irony of the night to me: the first person i saw was my favorite person, my best friend from middle/high school. she & her husband just happened to pull up in the parking lot right after i arrived. the second person i saw, however, was my least favorite person from my middle/high school days in Clarinda. she didn't acknowledge me at all. i tried to acknowledge her, but after my smile didn't break the ice on what can only be described as her meth-induced peakish face, i tried to forget it. and so she went on chain smoking and i went inside.

now, i'm not normally a mean/judgemental person. or at least i try not to be. i try to give people the benefit of the doubt. but this one person who gave me the cold shoulder last night was the same person who trashed my clarinet (literally- threw my clarinet - in case - in a garbage can), stuck gum in the hood of my new coat the first day of 8th grade, and in high school sat behind me in history class and taunted me each day with her nasty comments. one of my friends at the time told her off in front of everyone one day and that was pretty much the end of all her nastyness. but the fact remains, as nice of a person as i was, i still had a bully. and for no apparent reason, other than the fact that she just needed someone to be mean to.

and it's funny to me that after all these years, after all the hugs and handshakes and sincere kindness from all of my classmates except for her, it was once again reaffirmed that it is indeed her problem and not mine.

also- last night was the first night i drank beer from a keg. not that anyone really knew that, except jesse of course, but i thought it was worth mentioning. so if her reason to be mean to me back in the day was because i was too much of a goody two shoes, well, that reason no longer exists.

i would like to think that in 10 years time most people can change, or at the very least, are able to mature a little bit. but not everyone changes for the better. and last night was proof of that.