Miss Abbott's Long Weekend

I ask you to share your lives with me every day.  It isn't always easy for me to try to reciprocate and allow you to see a lot of my life, but I do have all kinds of important parts of me represented in my office to try to help in that effort.  This is because I know that sharing information about who you are is easier to do when you feel that shared connection with the other person.  So, to help in that endeavor, I wanted to share with you about the incredible long weekend I just had.

I was invited to attend the wedding of one of my former student's who had graduated in 2008.  It is the 4th wedding of a former student that I have had the honor of attending.  Honestly, I am still blown away and a little confused that even after all this time students would invite me to share in their special day as they get married.  The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the experience was so meaningful, but the weekend was about far more than just a wedding for me.

Adam, my former student who got married, is pictured in the center of this photo wearing the white shirt.  He is surrounded by 5 of his friends who were all close friends of his during high school.  They are an incredible group of young men.  They are ridiculously smart, talented, and accomplished.  After graduating from WKHS they all went their separate ways to college (USC, OSU, Notre Dame, NYU, and Dartmouth) and they have lived the last 12 years separated by many, many miles and yet they have remained close.  (In fact, all of them were groomsmen.)  I love their connection.  I love their laughter.  I love their competitiveness.  I love their compassion and thoughtfulness.  I loved being able to meet who they have picked as their significant others.  I love the young men who they have grown into who are still so much like the boys I knew.  During their senior year of high school, they had 5th period lunch together and every day I would see them for at least a few minutes.  They would always make me laugh, often teach me something new, and never fail to touch my heart.  This weekend, as I got to see them all again, just as they had when they were seniors in high school, they made me laugh and they touched my heart!  It was truly a blessing and a memorable weekend that I will cherish.
The wedding was in Arizona so, of course, I could not take a trip and not squeeze in a college visit.  I took time to visit Arizona State University and got my "Oh the Places You'll Go photo" and I hope that if you took a visit over the weekend you will be sharing your photos with me too!

Looking forward to hearing about YOUR long weekend and hoping that it was as positive and memorable as mine.