• I didn't expect my 40th reunion to be so emotional. • I was able to connect with people who knew me before I became a mom and a career woman.. • I'm grateful I got to reconnect with the people who helped me lay down the foundation of my life.

When I walked into my 40th high school reunion, I expected small talk and a few laughs about old hairstyles and bad fashion choices. It turned out to be highly emotional because I was surrounded by the people who had a front-row seat to my earliest years.

My "firsts" live in a special place inside me — my first best friend, my first heartbreak, my first taste of independence, my first sense of belonging. I shared those with people who knew me when I was still figuring it all out.

Those memories got buried under decades of life after graduatio

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