Before Facebook, there was the Class Book

My 15th college reunion is coming up, and with it the delivery of an enormous, 400-page book of "class pages" that other alums have submitted, with pictures, memories and here's-what-I'm-up-to updates.  Since we just moved into our new place, I haven't gotten my book yet. But I got a response to my page from a dear friend.

She emailed me a heartfelt long note, chronicling some of her joys and sorrows since we last saw each other at our 10th reunion.

The Class Book has been a bit of a joke between my friends and I - my college roommate Keiko even wrote a mini-drama starring the class book and the angst around reunion time. I remember the 5th reunion Class Book read like a overachievers handbook - what jobs people had done, how many countries they had traveled to. And then the 10th reunion was a baby bomb book - with still many overachievers in the mix.

I was actually pretty inspired to read about all the things that my classmates had done in the world. I remember reading my husband's 10th Class Book and thinking - do I wish I were doing that? At the time it felt like a good reality check to see if I should be heading a different direction.

And now, 15 years, and I'm all about keeping it real.

I can't remember quite what I wrote on my Class page, but I know it involved anger, and sorrow, and joy too. And a picture of a bald mama, mention of alopecia, and a link to this blog. The fabulous thing about heading around the bend toward 40 is that being honest and being known is more refreshing than scary.

My faith has helped me so much with that. I still compare myself to others like that Class Book, but it happens less - and more often, I look deep within my heart and where I think God is speaking, and wonder - is this where God wants me to be?

Veneers still exist though - and they are especially hard when we think everyone else is a perfect parent, or in a great marriage, or a perfect job. Today after church one of the volunteer Sunday school teachers gushed on and on about what great, obedient kids I have and how they are a model for others. I probably should have just said "thank you!" but I told him that we struggle so much at home - both with their anger and mine, and that in the end having kids has brought me closer to God as I've needed God more than ever.

What would you write to your former college or high school classmates today?