Last Saturday my family attended an event that was 17 years in the making…the reunion of my six high school best friends. We haven’t all been together since graduation but somehow we picked right back up where we left off. With a few more people in tow of course (there are 13 children between us). We took on the name The Six Sardines after a particularly long European trip together in a particularly small train car made for four…not six. But we weren’t willing to be split up so instead we crammed ourselves into that little space like sardines. And it stuck.
I kind of feel at a loss for words as I try to explain what these people have meant in my life. They saw me through four of the best and worst years of my life so to be back with them was like reliving all of that again. Only in four hours instead of four years. Surreal.
As Brent and I drifted off to sleep that Saturday evening the last words he said to me were, “I’m jealous of your high school friends.” He had never been with all of us together and as the memories started flowing I even found myself feeling jealous of that too-fortunate high school girl who was surrounded by five of the most incredible people everyday of her life for four years. Time has moved on and life has unfolded in the beautiful way that it should, but there is a part of my heart that will forever be frozen in those times. And a part of my heart will always hold space for those five people.
James, Dave, Isabelle, Mithila, Daphne…thank you.
And now for the pics…
(All the kiddos minus James’ oldest son, Wyatt, who stayed home with his grandmother so as not to unleash his toddlerness on the masses. Or so his Father says. I would have snuggled that kid to pieces. He’s real cute.)
As a graduation gift all those years ago, James’ parents scheduled a portrait session for the six of us. We each were given a small frame engraved with the words “The 6 Sardines” and a picture that looked exactly like this…
give or take 17 years.
(Love you guys.)
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