To my High School Classmates,

It’s been some time now since we graduated. From the moment we threw those caps in the air and walked out the doors for pictures with our parents, some of us were never to see each other again, some of us would remain close and some of us would grow apart, some of us would work together and some of us we may pass in the grocery store some days. Either way, since coming to college I have reflected on all of your roles in my life and I’d like to share them with you.

To my friends I’ve stayed in touch with, you clearly have meant the most to me. You have all played vital roles in my journey through high school and even still in college. You have seen me at my worst and at my best but have stayed for every step of the way. I talk to you just because it brightens my day and even the shortest conversation can make me smile for the rest of time. I will always be thankful for the times in high school, even the bad ones, just because I got to call you a friend. From our young years to our wedding days, to have you all with me has changed my life for nothing but the better.

To my friends I’ve lost touch with. There’s probably a lot of reasons we lost touch. We got busy, we found new interests, we moved around, maybe we even got in a fight. To those that simply changed with time, I wish you nothing but the best in life. I hope when we run into each other later in life it’s nothing but smiles and laughs because the love is still there. I will cheer on your accomplishments and like all your Facebook statuses because we may have lost touch but I still care. To those who I’ve had conflict, if we didn’t remedy it then it’s probably for the best. True friendships survive fights and weak ones don’t, because a fight may just be the very reason to leave. To say I hate you or will never to say hi to you may be a lie. But to say things could be repaired, well that we can only let time tell.

To those of you who judged me or laughed at me, well there’s some different things to be said. You either said things to my face or more likely made the jokes behind my back or in secret because you couldn’t do it in person because then you would officially be a bully. There’s no lie in high school you were either the boy who made me feel lesser because I was low on your hook-up list or you were the girl who (whether intentionally or not) made me inferior for a multitude of reasons. Your actions made me hide some parts of who I truly was because you made me feel ashamed for it. The stupidest thing is now I realize you never had that power on your own, but I let you have it. I will not thank you for my growth because that is only thanks to love and support I got from people I met in college. What I can thank you for, is that because you made me feel so low, I have never felt higher because I have learned that I am more amazing than you will ever appreciate. But I will say, if I passed you in the street or we ran into each other at the local bar, you will receive nothing but smiles and kind conversation from me. I have grown bigger than you could ever imagine and I’d love nothing more than to show that off to you.

And to those I never really got to talk to in high school, I’m sorry. Maybe I had my own misconceptions about you, maybe we never had class or lunch together, maybe we were just different people then. But I am sorry I never got the chance to truly know you or talk with you and understand you. Perhaps one day we will meet down the road and I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunities that will open.

So to all the various kinds of people in my high school class, I wish you nothing but the best in life. At high school reunions, again, you will receive nothing but smiles and kind words from me just because that’s who I am. Our lives in high school together is over, we are different people and changed in all sorts of ways. But you will have all played a role in who I am today and for that I thank you.