And at my tenth reunion, I was amazed that the people I perceived as torturing me for 4 years really had NO IDEA who I was. It was like I wasn’t even on their radar screen, and yet they defined MY high school misery. Huh.

Oddly, only 10 people from a class of 688 are on Facebook.

I know other people who’ve gotten that kind of shocked reaction — “You did what?!? It’s an odd, odd world.

I find the whole concept of our perceptions of ourself – and how people perceive(d) us to be interesting.

I firmly believe that as a teenager, particularly in American high schools, that perception is warped. I’ll give an example. I went to my ten year high school reunion a few years ago. I met someone who was a friend at the time – she was shocked to find out I was married. Shocked. I don’t know if she thought I was too much of a rebel? or too feminist to be married? Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t remember claiming (in high school) that I was never going to get married on principle. Perhaps I did. I found myself thinking that she didn’t really know me very well.

But is that really fair to me (or to her)? So much goes into communication – and I’ve never been the most conscious or vocal communicator.

My husband likes to say “the past is the past”. It is always amusing to wonder what could have been. But if I think about going back, I remember the reasons why I chose what I did – what decisions I made at the time and why.