In the ongoing saga of my 10 year reunion, things are moving forward. A coordinator has been fired, another has stepped up, the price has been dropped to $60/person, and a new venue has been secured.
That venue is Dave & Busters, and the $60 includes a $15 game card and “Italian buffet”, but whatever. Apparently reunions are for pretending you are still in high school.
What, I got that wrong? Oh well, moving on.
One unexpected side effect to this nonsense came in the form of new Facebook notifications. One of my classmates had uploaded 250 photos from our 4 years. * I began to flip through the album, with a growing dread … I’d been friends with this girl in high school, and therefore was probably IN some of these photos. Uh oh.
My fears came true, and there I was. And now, you get to benefit. I took the worst one out (a photo I had no idea existed, and does not deserve to see the light of day), but here you go…
Homecoming (horrible themes come free), my sophomore … no wait, 1999 was my junior year. So, yes, I was 15 here. That’s Chris. He was the “safe” date after a really horrific summer. So safe, in fact, that there were many jokes made at his expense. I ended our psuedo-dating 2 weeks later (so, it lasted a total of a month) when I realized that the boy LITERALLY couldn’t disagree with anything I said. ** It was aggravating, to say the least.
Can I just mention … I wish I still had that dress. It had a deep back and was sexy as hell on a girl with no curves. Imagine would it would look like now, 12 years later. Hmm, time to call my mom and see if it’s hiding in her closet.
King’s Ball, junior year. This was our version of Sadie Hawkins, and the tradition held that you dressed in matching shirts. That’s Travis, a friend from church. Probably the best date I ever had at a dance … we weren’t trying to impress each other all night (not having the slightest interest in each other) and could just have fun. He also danced with one of my friends, who’d been stood up. GOOD GUY.
I also happen to think my hair ROCKED here.
King’s Ball, senior year. No, that’s not my date. But she and her boyfriend carpooled with me and mine, so when it came time to take pictures we jumped in one together. No idea why the girl scanning had this one, not the couple shots, but whatever! Pretty girl, hmm? Too bad she went a bit psycho in the years following.
Also … the red hair? Totally natural. I’d been spending a LOT of time outside (the dance was in February … but I grew up in So Cal, remember?) and that’s what it tends to do.
Then there was this one. Senior year, I’m assuming just before graduation. I’m also assuming I was wearing a sweater of some kind OVER the leotard+high-waisted jeans combo. (What? I TOLD you I danced!) Why I took it off when photos were happening, I don’t know.
Clearly, this was staged. And clearly, I was cracking up. Less clearly, but you’ll have to take my word for it, I do NOT hold my fists like that when even PRETENDING to punch someone. In any case, that’s Jerry, Joe, and Joy. (Why didn’t I have a J name?) Joe (in the back with the greaser hair) and I had known each other since elementary school. We’d started out as mortal enemies but had become friends somewhere along the line. *** Not that we didn’t still torment each other constantly. He was dating Joy, a good friend of mine, who had a similar relationship with Jerry. At some point (I think it was Joe), the phrase “Jerry : Joy :: Joe : Sarah” was born. **** It’s written in my yearbook from that year. We had GOOD times together. =)
As an added bonus … here’s a shot of my favorite teacher. That’s Tim (we were all of 7 years apart in age, and at my sister’s graduation, I was informed I was NOT to refer to him as Mr. anymore.). He taught sophomore science, and AP Bio, and so, including the year I aided for him, I had his class for three years. No, despite the fact that he was 24 and adorable, I did not have a crush on him, I just respected him quite a bit. The man wrote my college reference letters (and was surprisingly on-the-nose regarding my home situation, though I never discussed it with him), backed me with the school administration when a vicious friend of an ex (see Chris, in the first photo) threatened me, and got me to pass the AP Bio test with a super high grade. Best. Teacher. EVER.
Didn’t I tell you he was adorable?
* Someone else uploaded current photos of our classmates. Is it just me, or is it weird to see current photos of groups that all STILL hang out together, doing the same things they did in HS, with the same people?
** A friend suggested I tell poor Chris that my hair was on fire, to see if he’d clue in. So I did. His response? “You’re so right.” It ended right there.
*** Ok, crying alert … consider that fair warning:
I’m not sure why Joe and I hated each other on sight, but we did. That was second grade. Enter 6 years of teachers knowing to keep us seated on opposite sides of the classroom (which threw off the alphabetical-by-last-name seating, but was better than all out war, I suppose). My 8th grade dance was a low point. All the boys danced with all the girls … and when Joe got to me he refused. Throughout high school we learned to tolerate each other, and eventually became good friends. At our graduation (where we were seated next to each other … that alphabetical seating again … and glad for it) he gave me a big hug (his mother got a photo of it and we sent it to our 2nd grade teacher) and said “I still owe you a dance, I was a brat when we were kids. I’ll dance with you at your wedding, ok?”
Joe passed away when we were 20. At my wedding, I saved him a dance.
**** If you understood the mathematics of that you’re a better person than me. I had to look up the dang symbols!
Little Pieces Everywhere 