Ah, the year of my high school graduation. Just thinking of it takes me back to some well-formed memories in my mind:

The smell of the high school lounge area where I religiously ate my lunch of coca-cola, small fries and peanut butter cups (no wonder I was so thin)

Having tall bangs that I would plaster into place with Loreal hairspray

Having mono and being so ill that I couldn’t do much of anything but watch television and sleep for the last quarter of high school

The feel of the steering wheel of my amazing ’77 Chevrolet Impala, that could easily fit 10 of my friends and never left me in the lurch – ever

Simple Minds “Don’t you forget about me” which was the theme for our prom (I didn’t go) and became the de rigeur themes for proms into infinity

I was never a popular kind of gal in high school. My strategy was mostly to find a few friends who were equally comfortable flying under the radar and who appreciated eighties english bands as much as I did. I didn’t dislike high school, but I didn’t love it either. For me, it was a sort of means to an end. It was someplace I had to be. It was what it was. I wouldn’t want to repeat it, but if I had to, it wouldn’t kill me. I do think it’s interesting to have friends with whom I experienced this period in life who feel much differently. It might kill them if they had to repeat it. Makes me wonder just how much I realized what they might have experienced. Two people. Same experience. Completely different perspective and recollections.

I’m off now to go meet a HS friend for lunch. Someone I thought was amazing in ’87, but had lost contact with until I literally almost ran into her on the street a few months ago (she was crossing in front of my car and I recognized her immediately). We connected on facebook and now get to see each other every now and then when schedules allow.

I love that we’ve reconnected. I love that despite all these years old friends remain as cool as you remember them. And I guess, despite being a huge 80s cliche, Simple Minds might have been right: there are just some people not worth forgetting.