And I Wish Every Teenage Girl I Know Was There

I didn’t go to my ten year school reunion. The thought of it made me ridiculously nervous and after two or three weeks of ‘should I/shouldn’t I’, the decision was made not to go…..and I have regretted it ever since.

Then, a couple of weeks ago I received a FB message. A close friend was organising a get together of any women from school, who were back in the area and just wanted to catch up for a drink. And this time, I went.

And it was fantastic! Catching up with girls that I spent all day everyday with for the 7 years of high school was very cool. Reminiscing about old teachers, crazy parties, old boyfriends and horror stories from nights out at the Macca (those of local heritage will understand. Those that aren’t, every town has a pub like that Macca…..You know the one!). The drinks were flowing, the laughter was raucous and heartfelt…...and the barriers, social lines and ridiculous status quo from high school had disappeared. It was beautiful. Those years of social hierarchy and “cool groups” had disappeared and what was left, was a group of women.

Just women.

And I wish that every pre teen or teen girl that I have ever taught could have been there.

I wish that they could have seen that the dramas of high school, disappear the day that you graduate from Year 12 and that the tears and anxiety of being 15 had melted away.

I wish that they could have been there to see that the status quo of the playground was now non-existent. That no matter what group you were in, what extra-curricular activity you were involved in, what clothes you wore….the list goes on….you were now all just a bunch of women talking woman stuff...kids, work, partners, memories…...

Most of all, I wish that they could have seen that, as these women had gotten older and had experienced life, they had realised that every women in that room, every girl that had been on their bus, or in their roll call class, or on the playground, ended up being phenomenal with an amazing story worth celebrating.

I wish I could tell them to just sit tight. That High School and everything that goes along with it, is just a small blip on the journey. That one day, they would sit with those same girls, as grown women in a bar and drink and laugh and celebrate.

Celebrate the journey…..Celebrate the seemingly never ending years of High School….Celebrate the zits and the high school crushes and awkward first kisses…….

Celebrate the phenomenal women they had become.

---