Time Gone By

Well, it certainly has been quite a while since my last blog post. I made many promises of posts to come... I have those drafts started but today is not the day to post them. Quite a lot has happened... but I don't really feel much like giving a blow-by-blow update of my life in the past couple months right now either.

I just finished reading an old post of one of my high school friends talking about his high school experience and reminiscing about this and that. For some reason reading that post again made me feel particularly nostalgic and I have some memories to look back on.

This friend of mine mentioned a song that struck him when performed by the Chamber Singers (which at the time was all women including me). Until I read his post (for the first time) I'd forgotten all about that song and how much I loved it, too. I got to thinking about how much I wish I had recordings of all of the songs I was a part of over the years of choral participation. I wish I had recordings of me specifically and how my voice used to sound. Choir was one of my most favorite things about school. It was the sport I played and supplied quite a few of my favorite friendships (with some fun and crazy characters thrown in). I'm sad to think I'll never get a chance to sing in a group like that again (and be good, too).

Kevin is currently long-term subbing for one of our most beloved high school teachers. As a result he's being reminded of lessons and content we were exposed to in Early Civ and Humanities. It's been fun for me to remember my dumb high school self and realize how much I've changed (and to re-realize why I went into teaching for elementary ed, too).

This friend of mine, mentioned above, said that he's been criticized for romancing his high school years. I have NEVER heard anyone say the same thing about me. I've even been known to say that I hated high school. Looking back I know that a statement like that is more than a bit dramatic and is certainly not all true. High school did have its bumps and, being a teenage girl, most of those bumps resulted in extremely emotional reactions from me.

Boys were weird and hardly ever made sense and a couple particular almost "relationships" ended some solid friendships and left me feeling dumb and confused. I lost a best friend to the "in crowd" because of her "relationship" stuff that had nothing to do with me plus a far greater interest in fashion, hair, and MTV than I'll ever possess. I was mercilessly bullied by some horribly jerky girls for the last two years of high school over something so dumb I bet they don't even remember what it was. I got my first (and only) boyfriend at the end of my junior year which began an extremely dramatic summer for us as we were both negotiating how to have a bf/gf and still have friends. I struggled through much of high school with migraine headaches and was absent quite a lot senior year as they got progressively worse. I developed a super apathetic attitude toward certain school subjects and ended up dropping three classes midway through senior year to dual-enroll at WCC. I got in my first of three car-totaling accidents. (other various things could join this group)

But I also: grew much closer with friends that are still important to me today, felt like an important member of an elite and talented group, got to work backstage on a bunch of stinkin' fun productions, got college credit during high school, made new friends that helped me deal with the loss of old ones, learned a language, traveled to two different countries and through a bunch of states, found my husband, and made so many memories that I don't remember half of them anymore. High school was not so awful as I'd previously thought.

It's so nice to be reminded of wonderful things that were so important to me and made me oh-so-happy at the time. Thanks a ton, Paulie. Love you.