The School Reunion....

School days... do any of us every forget those days, desperate to be a grown up and free from rules and restrictions? If only we'd listened to our parents when they told us life was easier within the school gates!

So 11 years later and the school 'reunion' was arranged. I think we all approach such events with mild trepidation but I enjoyed school, I have happy memories of it and I thought 'why not'!

Our school reunion was great fun, many of the people who attended I hadn't seen since I was 16 and many of them I hadn't ever really spoken to at school so it was great to get to know those people who were faces in the corridor but that your lives didn't cross over with...which when you're 16 means that they simply weren't in your double maths and english class, drama group or didn't hang around the same chip shop as you!

Now I wasn't particually significant at school. I wasn't a geek, I wasn't a swot, I didn't hang round the 'popular' kids and I didn't have a perm! I was just an in-betweener, one of those that didn't belong to a certain group but was happy to be just that. My greatest act of rebellion was wearing Doc Martins (albeit Cherry Red ones!) and having a few extra ear piercings that I had to hide from my Dad at every meal time for about 2 years! I was in the school plays, I sung in the school band (we never quite made it to 'choir' level) and I got on with most of my teachers! Most of my close friends from school are still my close friends and to be honest, I haven't changed a great deal. I still have pretty much the same hairstyle, the same dress size and I still don't stop for air when I'm talking!

Seeing people from school was quite surreal, it was like being back in the school field only with alcohol...and in a pub....and with mobile phones...and some money...actually it was totally different from being in the school field. Seeing all these familiar faces that you haven't seen in years makes you look at back at what you've achieved and the dreams and aspirations you still need to reach. You see what different paths people choose and see the other journeys people have taken.

I still think of myself as that slightly awkward teenager who isn't quite sure what group I sit with but I like that...I like the fact that I'm still learning about myself but at the same time can see that errors I've made have been useful and that sometimes you learn more from your mistakes than anything else. I'm a 29 year old with the mind of a teenager but without the spots and training bra. I still have so much I want to do and so much I still need to learn but I'm happy with the person I am and still have as many dreams as I did all those years ago.

So for anyone with a school reunion ahead who's questioning whether they should bother, just go....chances are you'll have a whale of a time, make new friends and cement old ones.....and if nothing else, its a great chance to see how everyone esle turned out!