PHS

Last night I attended the graduation ceremonies for Provo High School's class of 2008. My cutie little sister Char graduated, and I can't believe she's old enough to do that! In about a four days she's moving out for the summer, and it's blowing my mind. Anyway, her graduation was kind of a big deal for me as I reminisced about my own graduation, what's happened since, and how much I loved high school.

I'm sure many of my fellow Provo Highans will agree that we had the absolute best high school experience anyone could ask for. Since last night I've seen two of my dear friends from Provo High, and with both of them I talked about the magic of our years there.

It never felt clique-y. Everyone knew each other, and everyone was friends. Of course there were groups of people who hung out together and whatever, but I never felt like there were certain people who could or could not talk to one another and be friends. I felt so at home there. Walking down the halls and knowing just about everyone and them knowing me made me feel so secure. Compared to BYU where everyone walks around and stares at each other, it's wonderful.

We had such amazing teachers. I saw Mr. Smith last night from a distance and wished I could go find him and tell him things while he nodded and said, "That's great, Erin." and maybe gave me a little chuckle to make me feel funny. Some of my favorite books are the ones we read in Mrs. Brown's class. I had that poem she gave us on the last day of school Junior year hanging up in my bedroom for a few years. Just the other day I thought about Mr. Moore's class and how he made everyone feel cool, even if they weren't. Sometimes I pull out the CD recording of the Masterworks concert at the tabernacle Junior year and I'm amazed that Mr. Crane took a bunch of kids who joined choir so they could go to San Diego on tour and made them sound so incredible. The reason I'm majoring in Art History is because of Mrs. McConnell's class, I loved how much she loved art and she made me love it too.

I'm still in touch with so many of my Provo High friends. I haven't met anyone in college who still hangs out with their high school friends as much as we do. Maybe that means we're not moving on. But I prefer to think of it as not needing to move on--why would we? When you have a fabulous group of people, why get rid of them? I've decided instead to simply add to that group.

I LOVE the people I've met in my years at BYU. I have a group of friends that I will stay friends with forever. And I think that's the thing I've loved most about both my high school and my college years. I have a whole bunch of people in my life that I just love. And whether we talk once a week or just a few times a year, that closeness is still there.

I'm glad my life has turned out the way it has. That my old roommates from BYU can run into my friends from high school, and they're friends too. (Or they're married to each other, for crying out loud!) I love that there's one big group, just what I loved about PHS.

Sometimes it's embarrassing to be so into your high school. I feel like it's a cool thing in college to have hated high school and say you never talk to anyone, and you will never go to your reunions, etc. But here I proudly proclaim my love for Provo High and the time I spent there. I loved every minute of it. And I'm sure you did too if you went there.