So strange.

About a month and a half ago, I got in contact with an old friend named Nadine again. Nadine and I had known each other since junior kindergarten, but went off to different high schools after grade 8. We lost touch, becoming involved in new schools and with new friends. But a little while ago, I got curious about how she was doing, and decided to look her up on the ever-useful MySpace. We talked a bit for a while, and then I mentioned how I'd gotten in contact with her again to another girl we'd gone to elementary and middle school with, Natalie. This seemed to spark something in Natalie, and she began on a mission to find people we'd stopped talking to over the years. She was asking me to think of people who we hadn't seen in years, and somehow along the way, she got the newly-reconnected Nadine into it, as well as two other people we'd gone to elementary and middle school with, Ashley and Jesse. We all ended up in a big group conversation on MSN, just reminiscing about old times, old friends, old teachers. Now this was nuts to me, because Ashley was the only one I had stayed friends with over the years. Natalie I saw and talked to every once in a while, but Nadine I hadn't seen in forever. Jesse and I hadn't seen each other since the last day of grade 8, which had kind of saddened me since we went all the way back to daycare when we were babies. But there we were, all together. Nadine asked Natalie why she was doing this, why she couldn't just leave things in the past. Jesse commented that it's good to go back and revisit every once in a while. And frankly, I couldn't agree more. We all have embarrassing moments, regrets, stupid reasons that make us want to stay far away from the people we used to be close to. But tonight's TDI further cemented in my mind that what you go through makes you YOU. Your experiences, both bad and good, are purely that: yours. I know I have things in my past that I wish I could change, but I can't. And if I could.. would I go through with it? Probably not. My experiences have shaped me into who I am today. I know that I still have a long path ahead of me to walk down, I have many more struggles and many more triumphs to experience. But hey, they're mine to experience, no one else's.

And you know what else? Tonight Natalie went and spent some time with Ashley, and Nadine invited me out with her and another girl from elementary school. I love the way things end up working out.