Memories.....from long ago

Well I have to tell you that I just had the most AWESOME weekend. I really did.
See, it was my high school reunion - but that's not all.

We travelled to the US for this monumental 20th year anniversary (uh yeah, have I really been out of high school that long????)
So yeah - why was this so special?
Many of you may look back at high school and think 'yeah it was fun' or 'those were good times' or even 'that sucked' if you didn't enjoy it - but my high school is different.

Way back in 1983, my parents put in motion a plan to go overseas - to teach in a mission school.
My sister and brother and myself would all be attending said school - an American based english speaking missionary school in Quito Ecuador.
For a 13 yr old girl, this was bad news. who wants to leave your friends and the security of home when you are on the cusp of puberty, to go to a boarding school, where you are the new kid and don't know anybody.
It took a little over a year to get passports, visa's, redtape, blah blah blah, school applications, housing arrangements, piles and piles of shots including several in the bum and arm which were not fun!
And in the end we left on August 4th 1984 so I could start high school - not with my friends that I'd gone to school with since Kindergarten, but a new group of students - who all knew each other - and I was the 'new kid' - Bleck.

I was pretty determined to hate it.
Our first week there, a group of boys introduced themselves to my sister and I and for some strange reason, my father allowed his teenage daughters to go off with these boys in an old beat up VW van in a strange country. We had a blast though, and I started to think that maybe school wouldn't be sooooo terrible.

Right from the very beginning - we were accepted into this group of students - there were no cliques, no weirdness - just quickly made friends - and those bonds have lasted to this day.
My sister graduated from the Academy, and we returned to canada for me to finish my high school years.
I was 15 when we came back to Canada, and even though I was born and raised (for the most part) here, it felt odd and unusual. It was different from Quito - there was no doble bomba guy selling gum and candy outside the school for 1 sucre, there was no outside lockers, or friendly faces. I went from a high school with 150 students to a school of over 2000 students. The teachers didn't joke around with students much, they barely knew the students - it was impersonal, and that feeling of 'home', 'family' didn't apply to school anymore. I did not belong here.
I begged my parents to send me back to the Academy - but I guess the thought of sending a teenage girl away to boarding school in a foreign country alone without being there themselves didn't sit well with them.

So, flash forward to my 20th high school reunion. I haven't seen these people since 1985 - thats 22 years. well more than half my lifetime
But it was awesome.

So very awesome.

We had a great weekend - catching up, seeing each other's families, remembering old times, and that *feeling* was there. That these were friends that had grown up in unique surroundings - who understood culture shock much better than I, since most of them are currently living in the US now.
We grew up - and moved away - and yet this coming together was remarkable. We picked up where we left off - there was maybe a few moments initially while we reaquainted ourselves with each other - but after that it was laughter and fond remembrances, and just a great time.

Kudo's to all the spouses who really knew nobody and let us catch up with our friends, babysat the kids and patiently let us go back in time.

Thanks to all my friends - who once again, welcomed me as one of 'the gang' despite my short stay at the academy.

I have pictures - I will post pictures - I have a LOT of pictures....

I hope I don't have to wait 20 years for our next reunion!

So thanks Debby for organizing it - and so good to see everyone - PJ, Ruthie, Kirsty, Kevin, Peter, Suny, Steve, Tim,Debby, Debbie, Mike and of course Donna - I love you all.