Reunion

About five or six years ago, I found myself next-to-flat-broke, living on Costco pasta (and therefore slightly overweight), in the middle of a post-bac teacher certification program that involved way too many credits per quarter and cost way to much, and sleeping an average of five hours per night (this may seem like an adequate amount of repose to some of you, but for this girl, at least nine hours of sleep is required to be even remotely witty and/or vivacious). It was during this time that I was going headfirst into earning my teaching credentials, and it was during this time that I was lucky enough to meet and become close friends with a small handful of girls who were in the same boat. It was kind of like being at summer camp--the surroundings were so intense that we bonded extra-quickly, skipping most of the usual steps to becoming girlfriends (meeting for coffee, taking a walk around the lake, a shopping trip to the mall, et cetera) and going straight to consoling each other's heartaches and worries with cheap liquor, gossiping about our professors over romantic comedies at one of our apartments, and eating close-to-expired frozen pizza from The Grocery Outlet. I don't know that I would have made it through the program without them.

After earning our certificates, we all accepted teaching positions in various posts and went our separate ways, from Phoenix to Bellingham to The Rez, but have managed to stay in touch and share stories along the way (fumbling through our first conferences, intoxicated parents on field trips, 12-page report cards, shirtless Ken dolls in "Little House on the Prairie" dioramas). We have had two reunions so far--one at my 30th birthday party, a Sound-of-Music Leavenworth extravaganza, and a more recent and milder lunch date in Seattle, where we convened this Christmas Eve.

Apparently, we also all like white knit hats. Anyway, my hat's off to you, friends!