Now and then.

Lately I’ve been killing time by looking up people from my past life on Facebook. If you don’t know what Facebook is, it’s simply a site for college students and grads to post profiles about themselves. For some, it’s a way to show off a pretty picture and their popularity. For others (like me), it’s a way to keep connected to people that I otherwise would have forgotten.

Anyway, you don’t need to know what Facebook is to understand how intriguing and amusing it can be to revisit people that you haven’t seen for years. It’s the same feeling you get when you attend a school reunion, except a little safer since this is online.

I’ve been so taken aback at one seemingly obvious but still surprising factor: people change. And wow, do they! It’s not only that people grew up. I mean, the popular jock got fat. The nerdy girl who hid behind her hair and glasses is now a beautiful, gorgeous model. The shortest guy became the tallest. The girl who always had a boyfriend is now single. The lonely girl is married. The bully became an evangelist.

On and on it goes. It makes me shake me head in wonder and awe. Few people turned out the way I thought they would. I mean, when we were in junior high, didn’t we think that the popular kids would be popular forever? We envied them, we hated them, we wanted to be them. Now they’re working B class jobs, looking exactly the same, hanging in the exact same group of friends as the day you left them.

I scour myself for my own changes. I was the loner, the girl who straddled the fence – too nerdy for the popular kids and too down-to-earth for the nerdy kids. I was slightly overweight, and compensated by wearing nonsensical clothing. I was drowning in my depression, hoping for someone to throw me a lifeline. Life was grey and there were days when I begged for death.

Oh how I’ve changed. I look at my life now and I smile. I have loyal, loving friends who would as soon kick my ass into gear as they would soothe all my wounds. I have a handsome man who adores me, whose kisses are endless, and who wants to one day make me his wife. I have the career that I’ve always dreamed of.

Then I look at my face – the face that was ridiculed and ignored all those years – the same face that is now respected, loved, and admired.

I wonder what those kids – the kids that shunned me – would say if they saw me now?

And now I wonder, dear friends, what were you like growing up? Have you defied any expectations? How have you changed? Let’s hear it – I want to know!