Me and my good friend April
This post could also be given several other titles: High School Soap Opera, or The Tragedies and Triumphs of two high school girls, to name a few. But we'll leave the title as it is. April is my oldest Texas friend-- she was one of the first to befriend me as an awkward and insecure high school freshman moving to Texas from California. And though she now lives in New Mexico, she was here for the summer and I got to see her and hang out and we got to visit a couple times, once this past weekend. I am always excited to see her and chat. While she was in town this summer, she happened to find a notebook full of the notes I had written to her and stuffed in her locker, or handed off to her in passing, while we were in high school. She brought those to my house, and it was fun to read them and laugh and remember the drama of high school. I personally didn't like high school, and didn't ever really fit in, in my opinion, and I don't have a lot of memories of what I did. But reading those notes brought back a lot of memories, particularly about the relationship between me and April, two best friends going through high school together-- hating boys that liked us, liking boys who didn't like us back, us getting mad at each other, and then being friends again, me liking a boy that liked me back and how that changed me and April's relationship, me making poor choices... not all of it was light reading, in fact, a lot of it made me sad, because although April and I were best friends for the first two years of high school, our friendship sort of started falling apart after the start of our junior year and didn't start repairing until the beginning of my senior year and actually probably wasn't completely mended (or at least back to how it had started out) until we started having classes together our third year at BYU. It got me thinking how glad I am that I am done with that chapter in my life. High school is not a friendly place sometimes. As I think back, I am not always happy with some of the choices I made in high school, but as April pointed out, I would not be who I am today without having some of those experiences, and so in a way, I have to be grateful for that. One thing I for sure am grateful for is that I am no longer the shy, braces-wearing kid who was so unsure of herself, and who didn't stand up for herself. I hope that in another ten years, I will have hopefully moved on and become better, wiser, stronger, and more sure of myself. And by that time, Aubrey will be in high school, (scary to think about,) and I hope that when she gets there, I will have the sensitivity to help her navigate through such a tricky and pivotal time in her life. And hopefully she will have good friends to be a good influence on her the way April was for me.
It was fun to have you here, April, thanks for being my friend!
For your enjoyment, some flashback pictures...
Then....
And now... (tried to make the pictures as similar as possible...)
9 comments:
Elle has also talked about being a garbage girl if that makes you feel any better about andrew. and was it the gothic days that drew you and april apart??:) just kidding. it's so fun to see old friends. high school was an interesting time, that is for sure!
Oh geez! Who doesn't "just survive" High school (and middle school for that matter!) Luckily it's a whole throng of adolescent teens making lots of dumb decisions, so don't be too hard on yourself! I loved seeing pictures of April! Wow, I wish my parents still lived in Texas so I could come back and visit everyone! You two are adorable.
Outwardly you muddled your way through high school very well I thought, hope I wasn't too oblivious. So glad you and April have had time to enjoy each other again this summer, she's a good friend.
That's fun that you could see April. It's funny you wrote this, because I've been thinking about high school since we went to Jeff's reunion this last weekend. I just wrote a blog about it too.
Those were some great pics. I don't think about high school much but sometimes I'm reminded by the YW. It's amazing the things they go through on such little faith/experience. I think it's true that we all make mistakes learn some consequences for ourselves but the important thing is to make it through. I think that's where goals come in handy. I'm glad you turned out so well despite those rocky years :). Love you!
i was just looking at old pictures form high school and stuff while i was trying to go to sleep a few nights ago. it put me to sleep happy, thinking about a more simple time, but there's also of course so many regrets associated with high school and those awkward years. i think back and wish i had enjoyed high school more than i did, because it really is an awesome time, when you're almost an adult but you still get to be fairly carefree. nate loved high school and sometimes i wonder what makes our experiences so different. i loved some of high school, but it seems most of it i really didn't like or enjoy.
AMEN to all your thoughts on those high schools years. Glad I had em and glad the're over with.
high school was so different, wasnt it! i think we all had those friendships though, and thank goodness we did!
wow, just catching up on your blog....I love old friends that are still friends. one of life's greatest treaures
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