Facebook

I was recently introduced to Facebook, the great time-sucking monster. As a result, I've been put back in touch with many of my high school and college friends. It is fun to see how everyone turned out, but I have also been struck by the different paths everyone's lives have taken.

In high school we were pretty homogenous. We were happy that way, too. We strived for it. Conformity is the ultimate goal in high school. Our hair, make up, clothes, backgrounds, senses of humor, and senses of self were all extremely similar.

Since then, however, it amazes me how different we have all turned out. Everyone has had different challenges that have shaped who they have become. There have been terminal illness diagnoses; infertility; organ transplants; adoptions; deaths of children, spouses, and parents; moves to "the big city"; moves out of country; divorces; remarriages; political, professional, and artistic successes; "coming out"s; and it goes on.

It's also interesting to see how certain personality traits have intensified over time. The funny girl is downright hilarious. The hot guy is still hot. The girl who was only slightly imbalanced back in high school is now full out crazy. Yeah. She scares me.

Yet, no matter how different we are now, somehow, we are still friends because of our shared background. It's like a garden. Same soil, different plants. We grow differently but we're all rooted in the same place. And just like our conformity helped and strengthened each other back then, our lives are richer now for knowing each other in all our variety.