Sometimes Your Greatest Journey begins with Coming Home...

This weekend was my 20 year high school reunion.  It was amazing.  Lovely.  Exciting.  Hilarious.  I've spent a lot of time planning it, and stressing over it, and it came and went without any major glitches.  It was a wonderful time.

The 20 years that we've had away from school did nothing to diminish the spirit and the love we all felt for each other, and we still feel. That was the greatest surprise to me.  And the thing I get to walk away from, knowing that it was worth every moment of stress, every time someone on my committee mocked my dedication (if I heard "she runs a tight ship" once, I heard it a thousand times), it was totally worth it.

I even wrote a speech to give that night.  But I didn't do it.  It didn't seem the time, people were in full party mode, and hardly could quiet down for the basic hello announcements.  A speech wouldn't have blended. 

I do want to say one thing about why I do the reunions.  Its two-fold actually, one is my health . The day to day worry of becoming sick, getting over being sick, and what lies ahead.  So, I crave these things.  To make these memories.  To make things COUNT.  Its important to do this.  Its too important not to.  And the second part is what I call the "Mayberry Effect".  As big as we think our hometown of Reston, Virginia is (or was) - we are all still connected.

I live in a neighboring county from our hometown, but that doesn't change how often I actually have interactions with alums, old friends, spouses of classmates, etc.  It happens all the time.  And I know I'm not alone!

A few examples - my husband and I buy our first condo, new construction in Sterling 12 years ago.  Not one but 2 fellow classmates move in the same day, on the same street.  Then I go have open heart surgery 10 years ago.  Who is one of my O/R nurses? The spouse of one of my classmates I've known since kindergarten.  We order newspaper service? Who is the distributor? A classmate.  I go to the OB/GYN after the birth of my son - who is in the waiting room pregnant with her 3rd son? My high school sweethearts wife.  Crazy, right?  No, its the Mayberry Effect.  If you stop and pay attention, you will see these connections all around you.  It's wonderful.

We are still threaded together, in the blanket of memories we made so long ago.  Just last week? I get an email about my press about a new charity I helped start recently, and it says, "Dear Tammy, my name is ......." and yes, its the wife of one of most beloved football coaches when we were at SLHS.  And she's donated their son's clothes to our charity.  Amazing.

So, we are still together, even if not physically.  I will never forget the days there, the friends we made, the love we had, and what we will always carry with us.  And with that, I will see you (fingers crossed) in 5 years class of 1991. 

xoxo Mama Tazz aka Bionic Mommy

PS - the article from www.iammodern.com/tammy-goddard.html  magazine came out.  Its amazing. Much love to you J.