Now and Then...

It started when I went to my school reunion a week ago... yeah school reunions have this effect on people.. A rush of memories come back to you. As you see the people and the places which you'd frequent.. It all comes back to you.. The good and the bad.

Most of my memories were nice happy ones. But there were what I'd call smidgens of suppressed unpleasant memories.

I wasn't really a popular kid in school or belonged to what you might call a popular group. But we were very nice girls who'd talk to everyone n show no signs of snobbishness. Back then these bunch of girls who thought they were "superior" to us would sometimes attempt to humiliate us or pick on us. Going back to school and seeing those faces brought back some memories I'd completely forgotten about.

Now comes the good part :) What were these girls doing in life right now..? NONE of them seemed to have done anything halfway useful with their lives at all. Most of them were doing or had completed the easiest degree they could find or working in some unknown place just scrapping by. On the other hand (not trying to show off ;) ) me and my friends were well placed in life all of us either pursuing masters degrees or had become full fledged career women.

I know it sounds like I'm a selfish and vain person but I've never felt prouder of myself when a particular girl who picked on me, looked at me with this look of wonder and shock when she found out where I worked. At that moment I looked at my friends who not only led amazing lives but also looked gorgeous that day. The dumb, ugly and fat/skinny girls had transformed into beautiful engineers, a doctor, a couple of biotech experts and an MBA graduate in the making. There aren't words to describe the pride I felt that moment.

This also got me thinking. If only there was a way of knowing what lay in store for me in my future, my life as an 8th grader would've been so much easier. Just knowing that I'd be a lot more successful and better looking than the girl who called me a ugly and skinny little thing would've saved me a lot of pain.

But that day if I had known.. would I still have become what I am today..? Would I still have been a nice down to earth person or would I have been consumed with a false sense of vanity..? The later would've been closer to the truth. If I had'nt been picked on in high school would I have found that drive to achieve..? Most importantly would I have pushed myself to the limits to prove to myself that I was capable of being successful..? Nope..

Once this thought process had come to this conclusion the choir began to sing our school song.. We stood then and sang louder than we've ever sang..with big smiles on our faces..and goose bumps running down our spines... This time REALLY thanking our school(and all its specimens of human form) for making us who we are today.