Shantel came home the other day and asked about my 20 year high school reunion and my response was, "what 20 year high school reunion?" I had no idea we even had a reunion. this is not particularly surprising. I actually did not attend my 5 year or 10 year reunion either because I never knew when they were happening. The 20 year reunion was promoted on facebook, but since I do not get on facebook, I also did not have any idea it was happening. However, Shantel ran into Sarah Newbold and she asked if we were going, which is what caused Shantel to bring it up to me. The Newbold's wanted to go, but Jason Newbold said they were not going unless we were going. I was not initially all that interested, but thought it would be good to hang out with the Newbold's and so we decided to go. I told Jason if they went, then we would go.
It actually ended up being fairly fun. We loved hanging out with Jason and Sarah and chatting with them. There were quite a few people I did not know or remember at all, but we found a table with some of the people from my friend group and it was fun to chat with them and see where people ended up. I can't believe that it has been 20 years since I graduated, which means I've been past high school longer than I was alive when I graduated high school.
They did a raffle throughout the night and when people won they got to go up and say a tiny bit about themselves and what they were doing. It was really interesting to see what people were doing for careers or how their lives had turned out. It made me grateful to be married to Shantel and to have such wonderful kids. It was also interesting because if the Newbold's were not the most wealthy people there, they were certainly close, but they are pretty humble people and nobody else would have known.
After the party we went back to thew Newbold's house and hung out for a while and chatted. Michelle Flint was part of our high school friend group, but was not in our grade, and she and her husband Chris are living with the Newbold's until they move into a new house that is under construction and so they were back at the house and it was fun to catch up with them as well.
This is probably a good chance to write about something that I talk a lot about, but don't think I've ever written. In middle school I had a few different friend groups and then the same moving into high school. However, you kind of need to have a main friend group that you can just always hang out with. During my sophomore year of high school, my main friend group were not making really great decisions and were not very good influences or the people I really wanted to spend time with. However, you need people that you can sit with at lunch or chat with at events, you need that core friend group. However, I knew that I needed to stop spending time with these friends. That was not an easy decision and it was probably one of the hardest times of my entire life. It meant that at lunch every day, I was sitting alone. I was sitting alone a lot. I had other friends that I could occasionally join, but not that main group that I could always join without it being awkward. The 2nd half of my sophomore year and the start of my junior year of high school were really really hard.
I prayed for Heavenly Father to help me and fervantly pleaded with him. It took time. However, Heavenly Father heard my prayers. In my junior year I decided to take an AP Chemistry class. I ended up sitting by Jason Newbold and Kyle Griffin. They were part of a large really strong friend group. Jason and Kyle were really good friends and thankfully, as we started to chat, they brought me into their friend group. I doubt they even know what they did and what it meant to me, but they brought me in. Jason became my best friend who I hung out with all the time and Kyle too. It gave me people to go to football and basketball games with, go over and hang out at their house and a group to sit with at lunch. They had a good friend group and the entire friend group accepted me and brought me in. They invited me to sleepovers and other activities. Eventually a few of us even formed a group called "Sidewalk Serenade" that went and sang to girls on their doorsteps. It was a life changing thing for me and I could not imagine a better group of friends to have in high school. Really good, uplifiting people who chose the right, followed God and were fun to hang out with.
I am grateful that I had the courage to leave my friend group and that God blessed me with good friends. Jason and Kyle and I all ended up living up at college together and even when we don't see each other often, are still friends now.
Here are Shantel and I with Jason and Sarah Newbold.
Dallin Hubbard, Jason Newbold and me. Dallin and I were good friends in elementary school and obviously still knew each other in high school and it was fun to see him.
Finally, to finish the post, I'm so grateful for Shantel. I would not want to go anywhere without her, but especially not to a high school reunion. She is my favorite person and makes anything doable. It was wonderful to be with her and she is so supportive and does so much for me. I'm grateful that just 4 years after I graduated, I would meet her and be able to spend the rest of my life with her.
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