I need a vacation from my vacation within a vacation. (Translated: I need a week to recover from going to a high school friend’s wedding at the very tail end of my summer vacation.)

I just got back from Seattle, spending 5 days with high school friends, going to a wedding. What struck me is that we’ve known each other for over 13 years, and that these particular friends have actually grown closer to me with each passing year instead of more distant. High school can be extraordinarily important, socially. Heck, when I moved from my first high school (few friends) to my second high school (lots more friends), I felt free to be whoever I was, without the weight of years and hardened opinions of classmates weighing me down. I was able to become who I became — a colorful, irreverent, independent, overly dramatic personality — in high school.

Even though I very rarely commit anything about my personal life to this here blog, I just wanted to give a visual toast to those friends who forged the backbone of who I am today in that crucible that was high school.

(And I just know all y’all were dying to know what I look like. Hot, right?)