I grew up in a town of just 3,000 people and graduated with a class total of 42! Many of the friends with whom I graduated from High School, I knew from Kindergarten. I don’t ever see any of them anymore, but I do hear from some of them from time to time. Talking to an old friend is like drinking hot cocoa or wearing fuzzy slippers. There is something so powerful and homey about the memories of youth.

1. It is a bit of a relief to know that there are those whose mental picture of me is 20 pounds lighter.
2. There is something so miraculous about a friend you remember at 8 years old giving birth or becoming “Mommy” or “Daddy” to another little being.
3. Because when I hear the name Benji or Kevin or Kya or Sheila, a familiar face immediately comes to mind and I smile!
4. Because I love to see a picture of someone that I once was on the cheerleading squad with or used to run 8 miles a day with or played Detective in my backyard with, and know that after all of these years (17!) I would still recognize them in a crowded room.
5. Because I know that I can truly be myself! These are the people that saw me with a cast up past my knee, lying in a hospital bed after an appendectomy, sweaty and red-faced after a Cross Country race, and zooming around town in my little red bug.

Here’s to the Class of 1991 from Hoisington, Kansas! If you or someone you know was in my class all those years ago, be sure to leave me a comment and tell me what is going on in your life!