leaving SLC

As I mentioned in another post, I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah (or I was when I wrote this - I was waiting on the pictures to post it and here they are, yay!).

Near the beginning of the visit, we held a little dinner get-together for the friends that I have kept in touch with and their families.  I have to admit, I was nervous about seeing my childhood best friends after so many years, but I shouldn't have been worried. We clicked back together like I had never left. We laughed about how awkward and young and WEIRD we were in middle school – seriously, we were so strange. And awkward. Proof?

This was my last night in Utah before moving to Mississippi. 

I really REALLY hope they don't hate me forever for putting that picture on the internet. We really were that awk though - fourteen was an unforgiving age. Luckily I can say that we have all grown into this:

God I never thought I'd be so happy to be in my 20s. Seeing my old friends was the best experience. I love that even though we are all totally different people than we were as kids, we still really connect and have so much fun. So many memories with these ladies.

Other things from the trip:

A couple of days ago I went back to visit my elementary school, which was a crazy trip. I attended that school for an entire decade, from Pre-Kindergarten to 8th grade. Up until recently that made up over half of my whole life (and the fact that it doesn't anymore makes me feel super old). Some things had changed – they stopped manufacturing the plaid of our uniforms, so all the kids wear new colors. They've built new art, science and music rooms down at one end, which is great because in my day the teachers of those classes had to cart around their gear from room to room. I'm sure I'll have more to explore on this topic later (including some awesomely terrible pictures of adolescent me in uniform).

Today myself and two of my cousins all tried on our mothers' wedding dress* (it's the same dress - our mothers, who are sisters, both wore their mother's wedding dress, so there is a great tradition involved with the dress). More on that later, too!

It's amazing how different it feels to be a guest in my parent's home rather than coming home to stay in my old bedroom. This is a wonderful house (holy shit their kitchen is amazing), but it's my parents' home and not mine – I really am an adult, with my own home. It's sad and exciting all at the same time.

* I swear I occasionally do things other than think, talk and blog about weddings, even if it doesn't seem like it lately.