Fifteen Years

I actually wrote this post a couple weeks ago and never posted it. Oops!

At the risk of outing myself as old (as if any of you reading this don't know precisely how old I am), fifteen years ago this month, I graduated from high school. And the funny thing about living in my hometown right now is that it really highlights the fact that I may strike a passing resemblance to that girl who graduated FHS in June, 1994, but by and large, she's gone.


At the time I graduated high school, I was a chubby, shy, sheltered girl whose previous two and a half years had been defined by thyroid disease. I was terrified of college, as much as I was excited for it. I was terrified of boys even more. (Yes, yes. Have a good laugh. L afraid of boys?! PREPOSTEROUS. BWAHAHAHAAAA. I'm a married lady now, thankyouverymuch.) I was generally terrified of life.


I remember that time so vividly, though. I remember driving around, listening to music and dreaming of what my life was going to be like, now that I'd finally done my time. I remember the simultaneous thrill and fear at the prospect of heading off to Amherst, and a school full of thousands of strangers.


My college orientation was also 15 years ago this month. UMass staggers orientation throughout the summer, and ours was early in the season. Right from the get-go, I knew college was going to be a whole different world. I remember forcing myself to talk to people, because I figured we were pretty much all in the same boat, in terms of not knowing many people, and I figured it was better to make myself talk to people than to sit in a corner not talking to anyone. I was right.

It's fun to look back on those two events now, knowing how dramatically my life changed that summer. The transition from high school to college was, for me, a phenomenal one. Going to such a big school was precisely the right choice for me. I needed that experience and all that I learned about life there.