Hold on to sixteen as long as you can, changes come around real soon, make us women and men

When I got off work today, I walked down to Macy's. A girl that I went to high school with, we were actually good friends, works there. I saw her the minute I walked in, she works at the Clinique counter. I hadn't seen or talked to her in a while so I stopped and we talked. I knew she had a baby last year and I knew that she and her b/f were living together. I didn't know that she was moving up to New York. I asked her if she was going up there for school and she said, "Yea, I'm transferring schools. The baby and Jake are coming." I told her that it sounded nice and I'd see her later.

Truth is, I probably won't see her later. I probably won't see her until our 10 year reunion, maybe not even then. This is the girl that we teased. We called her "Geesler". I cheered with her, I shared rooms with her at church camp, I stayed the night at her house and got up at 5AM to do the Relay for Life walk with her. No matter what we called her or said to her, I think we all kind of liked her.

Then I got to thinking about the friends that I had in high school and how I haven't talked to any of them since graduation. How two of them are teenage moms and one of those two is married. How one of them, the girl that I was joined at the hip to up until the ninth grade, had a huge blow out with her parents and the last I heard, she worked at Hooters and her b/f was going to jail. Then I thought of Cody. I met Cody in the ninth grade. We were friends throughout high school and he and Kyle were inseperable our senior year. He came to the hospital when I had my car accident. He brought me a little stuffed bear that I still have sitting on my dresser. When the hospital staff wouldn't give me food (I seriously had to beg for nasty chicken noodle soup), he went to McDonald's and got me a strawberry milkshake and Kyle a cheeseburger. At one point in time, he and Kyle were planning on going down to Naples or somewhere to go to college together. I wish that had happened. Cody is such an amazing person and I hope life treats him well.

That doesn't mean that I hope the others don't get treated well, I wish all of them the best. But sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had stayed friends with all of them. Would they be like me? Would they be going to college, working part time, and just have an amazing boyfriend? Or would I have turned into them? Would I have a child out of wedlock? Would I be getting married just because I'm pregnant? I guess we'll never know. All I can say is, everything happens for a reason.