15 years older

On May 25, 1995, my friends and I graduated from high school in a class of over 700 seniors.  So, happy 15 years!  I found my stack of dance pictures from back in the day, scanned them in, and was looking through them this morning.  I thought I'd share a few highlights from the olden days (I know this post is totally dating me, especially once you see the clothes).  I need to add here that I have loads of incriminating pictures from band tour, some of which involve underwear on friends' heads in the middle of the night, as well as sneak pics of BTRs and snoozing band geeks.  I thought using dance pictures would be nicer, because we're all dressed up fancy.  Including myself. 

My first date:

The Best Part: Getting to borrow my sister's shirt, which I had had my eye on for months.
The Worst Part:  The belching contest at the table.  I had no idea boys were that gross.  At that point my only brother was 8.

Junior Prom, Spring, 1994:

The Best Part: It was the Big Dance.  Cool place, fun group.  Plus, look at that maroon velvet with the huge lace collar.  Fancy!
The Worst Part:  That moment when my heel caught on the fountain hose and caused a huge rupture that brought the dance to a screeching halt while they got the fountain turned off and the huge pool in the middle of the rotunda mopped up.  Oops.  Not a proud moment.

A Group Date, literally.  All the girls asked all the boys.

The Best Part:  12 tight friends, all having fun together without the pressure of impressing your date.  And who doesn't love a Hawaiian theme?
The Worst Part:  There was a fountain there, and with my history, at least 200 people had to point out the fountain to make sure I wouldn't ruin this dance, too.  At least this time they had the hose secured.

The Death Group:

I'm starting with The Worst Part first: A certain driver missed a turn in the canyon and parked her station wagon in a tree.  No one was hurt, but it was quite the shock. 
The Good Part:  My date was one of my best friends instead of some guy I'd only talked to twice, which meant we could deal with it without embarrassment.  Also, he had a 15-passenger van and saved the day.  Plus, everyone in that group kind of bonded over what could have been a tragedy.

Prom, Senior year:

The Best Part:  Everything.  It was a blast.  Fun date, fun group, no fountain mishaps. 
The Worst Part:  It was one of our last high school hoohahs. 

Since then, some of us have lost touch.  We've scattered across the country.  Some of us have dated each other, some of us have married each other.  There have been lots of babies, lots of college, illness, and the inevitable entrance into our thirties (Oy).  I know I'm waxing a bit sentimental, but high school was full of good times and excellent friends.  I'm looking forward to the next chance we have to reunite and catch up.  Cheers, class of '95. 

High School Tag

Jackie posted this tag on her blog, and I thought I'd follow her lead. High school was a while back, and I'm going to attempt to remember the answers to these questions. Anyone who knew me in high school, please correct anything you may see that is incorrect.

1. DID YOU DATE SOMEONE FROM YOUR SCHOOL? For a very short time during my junior year. Billy Priddis. If you've followed the BYU/Utah games for a long time, you may have heard of him. He was the Utah cheerleader that beat the crud out of a BYU fan. (I think it was in 1999 or so. I wasn't dating him at the time, but the guy I was dating also knew him from high school and cut out all the newspaper articles about the incident for me to put in my scrapbook.) I also dated 3 other guys from my high school after high school. Here's a little news bit I found: "In 1999, a BYU fan leaped out of the stands and tackled a Utah cheerleader during the game in which the Utes were leading and eventually won. The cheerleader responded by tackling his attacker and landing several punches before security officers intervened and ended the fracas." Yep, high school boyfriend.
2.WHAT KIND OF CAR DID YOU DRIVE? My parents' minivan--a Nissan Quest, and their old Toyota Camry.
3. DID YOU PASS YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE TEST YOUR FIRST TRY? Yes, but I missed all 6 points on parallel parking. I still can't do it worth a darn.
4. WERE YOU A PARTY ANIMAL? If playing board games and watching movies is considered partying. So, no.
5. WERE YOU CONSIDERED A FLIRT? Absolutely I was.
6. WERE YOU IN BAND, ORCHESTRA, OR CHOIR? I was in band and orchestra. It was cool to be in choir at my school, so naturally I wasn't involved.
7. WERE YOU A NERD? See above answer. Band geek. Hello! (But not really bookish.)
8. WERE YOU ON ANY VARSITY TEAMS? Oh, that's funny. Have you seen me do anything athletic?
9. DID YOU EVER GET SUSPENDED/EXPELLED? Please see the answer to #7.
10. CAN YOU STILL SING THE FIGHT SONG? I don't know if I can remember the words, but I bet I can still play it on my piccolo.
11. WHO WERE YOUR FAVORITE TEACHERS? Mr. Jackson, my calculus teacher, because he never made me feel dumb, even though I had no idea what he was talking about half the time, and Ms. Bodily, my English teacher, because she remembered my name and tried to come to all my recitals in college.
12. WHERE DID YOU SIT FOR LUNCH? By the lockers near the band room, but NOT in the band room. I wasn't that big of a band geek. There was a good view of Hot Guy that ate down the hall from there.
13. WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL'S FULL NAME? Mountain View H.S.
14. WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL'S MASCOT AND COLORS? Bruins, cardinal red and gold
15. DID YOU GO TO HOMECOMING AND WITH WHO? Brian Mecham, junior year, and as an alumni with Scott Watson (who is 1 1/2 feet taller than me).
16. IF YOU COULD GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN WOULD YOU? Absolutely not.
17. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT GRADUATION? I fell asleep after I walked, because I was #15 or something out of like 800 people. I woke up in time to clap for my friends that were at the end.
18. WHERE DID YOU GO SENIOR SKIP DAY? Lagoon, and it was super cold and rainy. I insisted on wearing shorts and sandals because it was May, for crying out loud, and ended up with blue feet and frozen knees. Stupid.
19. WERE YOU IN ANY CLUBS? I think I was in DECA, but I got in all the clubs' pictures so my name would be in the index of the yearbook a million times. I was a nerd.
20. HAVE YOU GAINED SOME WEIGHT SINCE THEN? I think I've doubled in size.
21. WHO WAS YOUR PROM DATE? Keith Phelps.
22. ARE YOU PLANNING ON GOING TO YOUR 10 YEAR REUNION? I didn't know about it until after the fact.
23. DID YOU HAVE A JOB IN HIGH SCHOOL? I worked at Bandit's Texas Barbecue my senior year, and did yard work for my grandpa.


Thanks, Jackie, for giving me something to blog about. It's kind of fun to think about those days, but not actually be living them. I'll tag anyone who's interested. Here's a picture from my Prom senior year. Yes, that's a bow on my butt, and yes, I'm wearing white heels. I need to add that my friend's mom made that dress in 2 days for me. I wasn't expecting the bow on the butt, but you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I had some pretty funny pictures to choose from that had some pretty great outfits, but I decided to choose the one from the best date I went on in high school. Thanks, Keith. (I have some great high school date stories. I'll tell you some time. The Prom my junior year involved a spraying hose that I detached from the fountain with my heel. The evening ended with the principal mopping up a huge puddle in his tux. Good story.)