These were some of the memories we laughed at during my recent high school reunion.
- That cranky mean bus driver some of us had in elementary school.
- The homecoming floats and parties we had making thousands of tissue paper flowers.
- The teachers we had and liked or disliked and the coach we all adored.
We toured our high school and since it has been renovated we felt lost most of the time. They even had the audacity to move the front door just to confuse us old folks.
We did recognized the cafeteria. It was the same place we remembered with possibly the same awful food especially the hamburgers which were always on the menu. Well they said it was burger but it was questionable because it also looked like someone had the job of taking a sharpie and drawing grill lines on each and every burger. Crazy right?
We laughed when we remembered the smoking pavilion many were lobbying for so the smokers had a place to go in bad weather. I wasn’t a smoker but I do remember the discussions and how we all thought it was a great idea. What?? By the way it never got built.
Mother Nature even gave us a tornado our Sophomore year on April Fools Day. Thankfully it was on a Sunday so no one was there and just enough damage to force us to finish out the year with split shifts at another high school.
The Senior lounge is now storage and the student government space where I spent an inordinate amount of time is now a classroom.
There was also streaking, powder puff football, pep rallies and other things that will only stay in our memories because we are ALL grateful there is no digital archive of some of the really stupid stuff we did !
We were all thankful for name tags with photos and large print. Some people I recognized right away and some it took a hot minute.
Unconditional love, lots of laughter, deep long abiding hugs held longer than normal and just a little tighter.
Smiles of recognition and joy.
Stories of teenage pranks, crazy fashion choices, teepeeing houses, football games, slumber parties, and proms.
Sorrow over those who are no longer with us and those that we could not find but asked about.
Most of all a sense of belonging, gratitude and unconditional love for those who came.
Hahahaha..so me! Upside down!
Phones stayed put away. We only wanted to scroll the crowd for familiar faces and sounds of laughter. We knew each other for many years. Some stayed in touch, for others this was the first time back.
Still the connection remains because those four years were much more than scholastic endeavors. It was a time of sharing the best parts of us, being vulnerable, learning and growing up.
We did not see grey hair, or wrinkles. We remembered young faces full of promise and the friendships that ensued. Dreams that were made and changed, dreams that were fulfilled and dreams that were forgotten when life sent us down an unanticipated road.
Those memories and the people we made them with will always be a part of us.
And of course all of us women were so excited to realize that every single one us ( not to brag but) could still fit into those earrings we wore in high school! 🙂
Just saying!!!
As always, keep triing!!
Jennifer