25 Years Graduated

With Dad on Graduation Night, 2000

With Daryl in Salt Lake City, 2025

My high school graduating class had its 25-year reunion this weekend! I wasn't able to make it, but I saw some of the reunion photos on Facebook. My first thought was, "Wow! Some women just never age!" My second thought, though, was about how I very much have changed, and I wanted to document it. So here are some lists to capture the changes:

Physical Changes

• Weight!
  I think I lost my baby face but put on the pounds everywhere else! Most of those pounds came after I turned 40!
• Wrinkles!
  I don't mind the wrinkles; they make me look my age—finally!
• Style
  It took me a long, long time, but I feel like I know what cuts and colors look good on me now.
• Location
  I've lived all over the Southern United States and on the West Coast! I went from Georgia to Texas to New Mexico, back to Texas and then to California. I'm now in Utah for the immediate future. I miss trees!
• Health
  My lower back hurts most of the time. I think I have a herniated disc. My stomach is not as strong as it once was, and I sometimes can't handle very sweet or "rich" desserts. It's a major point of shame for me.

Mental and Emotional Changes

• I am not nearly as shy as I once was. In grade school, classmates would laugh at how incredibly red my face got in any given social interaction. Something as simple as someone saying hello made me blush. It was a real problem. At this very moment, however, I can't remember the last time I blushed. I also can't remember the last time I was afraid to speak.
• I stopped looking at the world through black and white lenses. Like many young people, I thought Right and Wrong were buckets in which everything could be sorted. I was a strict rule-follower. I cleaned my room thoroughly every Saturday without being told. I completed most of my homework right after school. Some people were good, and some people were bad. Fortunately, I don't think that way anymore. I now understand that most of life is gray, context matters, and behavior—not people—is good or bad. Maturity is a wonderful gift.
  
• I started paying attention to the news! Although I came to it late, I'm here now. I'm a real adult who follows current events and political shifts. It's fun and depressing all at once.
• My memory is fading. I am proud of the other mental and emotional changes, but this is the one I am having a hard time with. I used to have an excellent memory; now it takes me longer to remember names and events that seemed so cemented in my mind. It's extremely sad.

There are, of course, things that haven't changed, such as my curiosity. I always have questions swirling around in my head, and I hope that never changes. I still like to read and study, and I still love school. I still have faith in God, and I still have five siblings and a mom who are all alive and well.

I remember how I felt as a senior in high school—excited to be growing up and scared to move on. There are decisions I wish I could change and forks in the road I sometimes wish I could go back to. Overall, though, these 25 years have been good. They have also been difficult and painful and strange at times, but I'm happy with what I've learned and the person I've become.

Thing I'm thankful for: photos