This is the Story of a Girl...give or take 10 years.

Tomorrow marks ten years since I graduated high school alongside my fellow Tigers. Next week, my stepdaughter will walk across the stage at her own high school graduation. Somehow, the past ten years have flown by. So much has happened over the years, although it doesn't seem that long.

I still basically feel the same as I did when I was 18, albeit, my eyesight is slightly worse (but I've worn glasses nearly 20 years now, anyway), and my joints ache a bit in the mornings. I'm still the same height (shockingly enough, I never got that growth spurt), still like the same types of movies and music, and only just in the last few months stopped driving a Saturn. Hell, there's even a new Fast and the Furious sequel out this weekend and Nelly just did a duet with a Country act. Um, wait...did I actually travel back to 2003?

Kristen, Megan, Alyssa, me, Erin F., and Bethany
At our senior Homecoming Bonfire.

Alas, even if I do not feel different, I am sure that I am. If anything, life is different. Instead of working at the Candy Basket so I could buy clothes and CDs, money now goes towards mortgages, car payments, and groceries; which is okay by me. Life is good, and while never perfect and it quite honestly feels like a hot mess a lot of days, I couldn't ask for more than I have been lucky enough to be blessed with these past ten years...

Erin F., me, Andi, Kristen, Kaylin, and Abby on my and Andi's 18th birthday
Back in the days before everyone had digital cameras, when you never knew people looked crazy until you developed...

...including my friends. I'm so very thankful that several of the people who were with me on that warm May afternoon a decade ago, are still around in my life. I'm also thankful that I've been blessed enough to add some incredible new people into the mix along the way, too. Here's to my old classmates, far but not forgotten, and all of 2013's graduates who are going out into the real world - Welcome to the Jungle!

Raven, Kaylin, Erin F., and me at graduation