some things i learned at my ten year reunion

1. There were a few classmates I spoke to who firmly believed that what they're doing with their lives is the right thing, but they were few and far between. The rest of us were wonderfully vulnerable, honest, lost little sheep, slowly finding our way to the great meadow. (Or, really, the bar.) I heard the phrases "transition period," "I just started," and "oh, I don't know" often enough to feel welcome.

2. I didn't go out nearly enough in college.

3. The guy in my high school math class that I thought was popular because he played sports and was good looking? Apparently he wasn't. (But doesn't my thinking him so make him so? Or would I have had to be cooler at the time to merit an opinion?)

4. My heart has an amazing capacity to stretch. I had no intention of cramming all those people in there, and yet, here I am, three days later, toting them around with me and wanting to find a way to have brunch with every single one of them. Every day.

Grad school, anyone?

5. Sometimes, trying something new can be incredibly rewarding. (Sometimes, revelations can be incredibly vague.)

6. There are some good looking guys in our class. There are also some VERY pregnant women.

7. Sleeping in a dorm room in New Haven is like sleeping in a washing machine full of toddlers and marbles.

8. If you have nothing to do for the afternoon there's a pretty good chance there are a number of other people in the same boat. Find some and chat them up. They might turn out to be awesome. (And set you up with their co-workers! Hooray!)

9. As done as I say I am with acting, when a classmate of mine (whose opinion I really respect) told me he thought I was "one of the good ones," I seriously (albeit briefly) considered going back to it.

10. Jumping on an empty water bottle with the cap loosely fitted to it is a bad activity in a crowd. However, if you're going to engage in it, be sure to hit a guy in the military and make super-nice with his wife. Then everything will turn out fine.

11. I can run farther than I did in college. (Even hungover at 8:45 am!)

12. There are bathtubs in the basements of some of the freshman dorms. Do freshmen really
take baths? Believing that they couldn't possibly, I clambered into one for a rest. I felt like beer.

13. While identity is completely fluid, some element of character persists. What I liked in people ten years ago is still present, and in some cases, has grown brighter and more precious. What I didn't like has either faded away, or I've made peace with it inside of myself. Seeing everyone as innocent and every encounter as new made the weekend really vibrant, and I wish that was a skill I'd had in college.

Then surely, I'd have gone out more.