You will recall that last week, I got together with my high school friends for a night of steaks and reminiscing.  Since that night, my friend Michelle sent me some pictures of us when we were all younger.  A LOT younger.

Here are most of us at the time of our high school graduation.  Paula had graduated the year before and was a very glamorous BYU freshman at the time.

I honestly have no memory of this photo being taken, so I can't remember if it was during or after high school.  It must have been during, because some of us pictured were married and gone within a year of graduation.

This was definitely taken during our high school years.  Yikes.

Despite the obvious reasons for me not wanting anyone in the world to ever see this picture, I just had to include it because of the location.  This is the kitchen bar at Michelle's house, where I spent many, many hours.  I used to go to her house literally every day after school and stay for a couple of hours before walking home for dinner with my family.  I don't know how Michelle's mother put up with us in her hair all the time, but she did.  I have distinct memories of sitting here watching Louene dump a can of Coca-cola into her famous sloppy joe mixture.  This was also the site of countless conversations about Rob Lowe, George Michael, hair colored the perfect shade of "Cherry Coke", hair colored nearly every shade in the rainbow (that was a bad week for Michelle), Michael Jackson, and of course all the boys we crushed on that didn't know we were alive.

Fast forward twenty-something years.

Our get-together last year.

Our get-together this year.

As I look at these pictures and think of these fantastic ladies, I can't help but think of how amazing it is that we are all so the same and also all so different.  Every year during our mini-reunions, we all comment on how easy it is to talk to each other, still, even though we really only ever see each other once a year, and how being together makes us feel like we're 16-years old again.

But, even though we started in the same place, the twenty or so years since high school have taken us all on very different journeys. There are seven of us in this high school group, and sadly one of us has disappeared.  But this is where the remaining six of us are:

 Five of us went to college.

One of us is currently in school.

One of us served an LDS mission.

Four of us are married.

Two of us are single.

Two of us have been divorced.

One of us has never married.

Five of us have children.

Three of us have children with significant medical challenges.

Two of us have special-needs children that break our hearts every day and we love ferociously.

 Five of us currently work.

One of us has started and owned several businesses.

Three of us still live in our old hometown.

Two of us have had children attend our same high school.

Two of us have had cancer scares.

One of us is a mother-in-law.

Two of us have dogs we love.  

Two of us have chickens we love.

All six of us are active in our church and doing our best to align our lives with what we believe God wants for us.

All six of us have people in our lives who love us everyday.

 See what I mean?  We all started from basically the same point, yet from there we have all led our own versions of Life.  We are all so different, but mostly we are all so alike.

And underneath it all, we are still the same girls we were in 1986, only now we are all seasoned, somewhat weathered, and unquestionably improved.

And we definitely have better hair.