Throwback...18 Years...to 18 Years

This past Monday was a significant date in my mind. One of those weird, random dates that you remember for reasons you'll never understand.

My high school graduation.

Eighteen years ago...I was eighteen.

Okay I am not old enough for that kind of nonsense. How in the world was eighteen years ago...half a lifetime ago?

And yet it was.

I was eighteen with thank-you-90's poofy bangs and a perm...oh yes. A perm. I hadn't yet given up shoulder pads and I hadn't discovered waxing my eyebrows. Eighteen wasn't then what it was now. {Just saw a picture on Facebook of a friend of mine who IS eighteen and she looks more grown up than I do...currently!}

I donned my duct tape silver graduation gown, which was hot and heavy {in the literal sense, not in the edgy sense}, bobby pinned my matching cap carefully around my poofy bangs and set out to be the best back row graduate you ever saw. {We were the class of 96, so our chairs were arranged in a 96...and I was part of the very bottom of the 9.}

My biggest fear that day was that I would throw up, trip, or pass out - in front of e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. My biggest hope that day was that I would remember and savor every single detail...because you only get one high school graduation day.

In those respects, I've not changed much in the past 18 years. My biggest fear on a regular basis is that I will throw up, trip, or pass out in front of e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. And my biggest hope is that I will mentally bottle up every memory forever...and savor them.

And I do remember that day. I remember walking across the platform three times {two scholarships and one diploma}. I remember our speaker and the music...and even who handed me my diploma, though it may have been suggested that such a detail would never stick in my mind past that day.

I remember the party at my house after graduation...filled with friends and family and a host of little kids I babysat on a regular basis. I remember one of my friends swearing to me she'd invited a boy to come to my open house, which would have been the ultimate earth-shaking event, had it taken place...and my utter fear that she actually had and he actually might. {He did not show up and to this day I don't know whether or not she really invited him - but I highly suspect she did.}

I remember going to the all-night party at the high school on graduation night, which felt to me like the ticket to true grown-up status had been placed firmly in my hands. I mostly stood in a corner and shook my head at the reality of being out ALL NIGHT LONG - but it was a blast. I went home with my friend Amber, who lived about a block from the school, and at 4:15  in the morning, we crashed on her bedroom floor and slept until our eyes PEEKED open at an embarrassingly late hour the next day.

I loved that day. I loved celebrating a multi-year accomplishment. I loved all the people who set aside the sacred Sunday afternoon nap to drive to our house and eat cake with us. I loved diving into the presents and finding myself the owner of treasures like...my own set of towels...and my very own itty bitty TV. I loved the joy and promise of a future yet unwritten - exciting and mysterious.

And I even loved that blessed perm.

So thankful, looking back at this half-a-lifetime-away mark that the unwritten future of that day - in all its exhilirating joy and deep-rooted pain - has been my journey to take.

I'm not even GOING to do the math to figure out how old I'll be in 18 more years, but my prayer is that the yet-unwritten future of those days are filled with an equally faith-filled journey.