Thinking back, I’m pretty sure I was a dork.

I got good grades.
I dated, yet didn’t have a serious boyfriend.
I studied.
I was a victim to the “I” word – INVOLVED. (In clubs like Student Council, that is.)
I was far removed from any activity that would qualify me as a slut.
I had a great group of friends, and while I was well-known, I didn’t think that many people knew me that well.

All leading up to realizing that without meaning to, without even realizing it, people that you were friends with in the “I was more acquainted to you than anything else” can know you better than you would ever believe.

Thus my evening.

I spent the majority of my night catching up with old friends. People that knew me when I went to prom. People that knew I was the discus champion of my county for a few years running. People that knew me back when I still had a crush on someone who just had his first baby (now, not then) and knew that even back in the ’90’s, I was a huge romantic, even if I denied it on a regular basis.

Makes me realize that I’m a lot more transparent than I’d like to appear. I talk about people in my life, my co-workers, my roommates, my friends & others, trying to catch everyone up on the 10 years they’ve been absent. And despite the time, despite the years, realizing they can sum up the situations in one sentence or less still amazes me.

Unsurprisingly, yet in actuality, a bit unsettling, who you were in the past defines who you are today, whether or not you want it to.

While a bit surprised by the astuteness that they portrayed, I’m not upset by it. Knowing that people WERE there for my ‘days gone by’, DO know my past (however un-sordid it may be), and DO know where I came from, well, it’s soothing in a strangely familiar way.

And while my future – and the people in it – make me optimistic, excited, and happy as can be, knowing I’ve reconnected with those who know what Poloroids before my After-Prom means just makes my entire day.