10 Year High School Reunion

Last Saturday was the big night. I was looking forward to this night and Chad could never understand why. I have gone to school, played soccer, and been in ASB with so many different people I had lost contact with and I was excited to see what a lot of them were up to. Chad was a good sport and most of the people remembered him, too. He went to our rival High School but he'd come sneak on campus to have lunch with me or sneak in at the end of ASB (leadership class).

When we arrived the awkwardness and disappointment rushed in. We met up with Amanda and Luke so we could go together and that helped ease the tension with eyes staring at you the minute you walked up. Seriously, it was so weird. Most people hadn't changed too much. They were all very successful. One of my guy friends is the marketing director for Major League Soccer. Most of the girls had pretty advanced degrees too. The minute I walked in, "AMBER MILLER...you look exactly the same." It was a little embarrassing because people had started drinking before we got there so the volume was a few notches higher than I would have preferred. Out of a graduating class of 650 or so...there were only a little over 100 people but most of them were people I didn't care to pay money to see.

Unfortunately, even a few of the people I did want to see were only worth talking to for the first 30 minutes. When you go to give your friend a hug and she can hardly stand up, then wobbles and her eyes roll when she looks at you...you tend to take a few steps back. And that's what I did. I choose not to be thrown up on! I expected most of them to drink, but I thought at 28...they'd have a little control especially on a night they would want to remember...or not apparently. Most of the people that were really drunk...I choose not to take pictures with...too close for comfort. So I only have one picture with the people that could physically handle their 10 glasses of wine.

Me*, Marie*, Ryan* & April*

Me*: "So sober it was extremely obvious" My drunken friends came and corrected Chad and I when we put our mashed potatoes on our plate and not in Martini glasses. I've never heard of such a thing. But when we looked around sure enough everyone had theirs in martini glasses...and the 15 Mormon's stood out like a sore thumb!

Marie*: "Don't talk to me if I didn't talk to you in High School" You have to know her personality. Marie is someone I have kept in contact with and we try to go to lunch together a few times a year. She is incredibly successful and runs a financial advising company here in HB. She is often misunderstood as being rude. Which was still the case at the reunion. She is honest. She doesn't care to be fake and go out of her way to pretend she cares about people she knew nothing of. She has always been such a good friend to me. We sat next to each other in almost every class since Kindergarten...even in High School when I was so preppy and she was literally as gangster as you can get. But somehow that never stopped our friendship. Which ,to me, is amazing if you would have seen us side by side in High School.

Ryan*: "The loud drunk that brought up embarrassing stories!" In a screaming voice..."Hey, Amber...remember when I was cold on our whale watching trip in 5th grade and your mom sat on me with her fur coat to keep me warm." Yes, Ryan...I remember. Ryan will never forget that momentous moment when I was so embarrassed I remember running to the back of the boat because my mom literally sat on him! Ryan has always had a cussing problem...even since 2nd grade. If he cussed I punched him. And for some reason he understood and let me punch him. Of course, I stopped being immature and punching him in Middle School...but the first thing he did when we started talking: the minute he cussed, "Oh, Amber...I'm so sorry. I'll clean up my language for you tonight." There was another Mormon girl there too and she said, "Ryan, you didn't clean up your language for me." And he said, "It's different...I always have for Amber." He definitely associated me and not cussing together even after 10 years of not seeing me. Parenting lesson: Hit someone if they cuss...it works! J/K

April*: "The happy go lucky, I don't wanna stop dancing drunk" Not even for a picture. But she is always happy. April and I planned the activities for High School and she headed up the reunion since she is Activities Director at Newport Harbor. She did it all and I was grateful for that. April and I didn't hang out much outside of ASB but knew a lot about each other since she was Marie's neighbor. EVERYONE always got the two of us mixed up!

The four of us went to school together from Kindergarten through High School. We all hung out with completely different people by the time we went to High School but we still talked at school.

Amanda & Me

I was so glad I had Amanda. We became close friends from a random day in High School. She sat next to me in a class. I had heard she was taking the discussions at a families house she babysat for. But we didn't talk much. It was at the end of our Junior year and one of my friends told me before class, Chad Pitt (my husband now...but someone I had this crush on then) had asked Jamie Orgill (who was drop dead gorgeous) to Prom since she was a senior and he could ask me the next year. A few weeks earlier he had told his friends, who told me, that he was going to ask me. IT WAS THEN END OF THE WORLD. I was crying pretty bad when I walked into my AP US History class. All the Asian kids were staring at the white girl crying like a baby.

That's when Ms. Barkawi started class and said, "Amanda Dardis can you take Amber on a walk." We didn't know each other...but she got to know me real fast! We were good friends our Senior year but people were shocked we were roommates at BYU and still very close friends today. Amanda didn't tell many people about her decision to go to BYU. She had started the application process and when her parents saw BYU they threw it away. She had been accepted to Ivy league schools graduating ranked #12 in our High School. She is brilliant. But she was interested in the church and her parents were 100% against it. She decided to apply but used my address. Got accepted. Very few people knew. Her parents told her if she got baptized or went to BYU they would disown her.

In August 1998, my Dad baptized her, her parents literally dropped her and her stuff off at BYU ( in and out in 30 minutes). And that was it...no money, nothing! She did it all on her own and slowly regained her parents contact after writing them even when there were no responses.

I remember when they sent her a letter and it had $20 inside towards the end of our freshman year. We cried in our dorm. It meant something. Twenty dollars had never meant as much as it did that day, and probably never will. They still cared. They still supported her no matter how much they disapproved. Even if it was only twenty dollars. I will always look up to her for the sacrifices and respect she showed her parents even when she was making all the right choices in her life. The sacrifices were always worth it to her and she was never willing to walk away from the church so life could be easier for her. She is such a great person and someone I admire!