me: the high school years

i got this idea from candi at tinycandi's blog and thought i'd do it too! i'll let you know ahead of time that you won't be hearing much about academics, that totally wasn't me. but i did attend 3 high schools in 4 years, had an illness take me out of school and was booted to boarding school for bad behavior! so...not your ordinary high school days. as a bonus i have a picture from back in the day, thanks to a friend on facebook.

9th grade, 1988-89:

though there's a lot of moving in my history, we were pretty static at this point and this was the 4th year of starting school with the same group. i was lucky enough to have one of my bestest friends, krissy, living on the same street.

after completing our individual school clothes shopping for the first year of high school, we sat down together and made our "4 week coordinated clothes calendar". between our own and each other's outfits, we were able to not repeat an outfit ourselves for the first 4 weeks, it helped that krissy also had an older sister that didn't mind sharing on occasion. we had it coordinated down to our shoes, accessories and purses. i can still remember what i wore on that first day, it was an uber cool outfit and it's one of a few things that i still have packed away...just because.

i had started playing the clarinet back in elementary school, i signed up for band. but i was never in the marching band. my dad was a football coach in another town and my friday nights during football season were spent with his team. not really doing anything but being in the way, and of course enjoying the football players.

i didn't have any serious boyfriend's during most of the year. a few silly little ones. i had some crushes, namely dad's football players and a senior who played the drums in band. towards the end of the year i did get asked out by two guys on the same day, that led to a bit of a conundrum. but one was older and drove. so you can guess who i chose. that was my first real romance and it didn't make it through the following summer break.

instead of boys, i really had a lot more fun with my friends. krissy and i had a class together that year for the only time. the last class of the day. the first teacher, well i don't know how he got the job as he wasn't much of a teacher. on test day he would walk around giving out test answers! i thought this was cool and easy. but not krissy. nope she was worried about how she was going to get into college because she wasn't learning anything. (this is why she is a gator alum and i'm not). that teacher got the boot, as did the one after that for showing the movie "helter skelter" in class during an admin review. the third teacher stuck.*

10th grade, 1989-1990

somehow early on in the year, krissy and i started to drift apart. also my dad was no longer coaching so that was gone from my life, too. and finally i quit the band. at that point i didn't see a reason to stay, i was bored and the cute drummer had graduated. life really had changed. i spent more time with my neighbor and friend, nick, who was a few years older than i and no longer in school. he was never one of my dad's favorites. and though he wasn't the best influence, he wasn't the worst either.

like i mentioned, academics was never a priority and my grades showed that. i spent a lot of time grounded. a lot. so i had to improvise. i became a manager for my school's football team so i'd be allowed out of the house and i babysat. both of these activities were allowed. but sometimes i would say i was babysitting and i was actually out with friends.

during one of these occasions i met my first true love. he was 17 to my 15 but had graduated high school and was awaiting enlistment into the navy. he turned 18 not too long after that. my parents were not at all pleased and prohibited us to date. well, i did what any girl would do-i started "babysitting" an awful lot. when that wasn't enough time i started sneaking out, on school nights. i barely managed to make it through the school day and often fell asleep. one fateful night i went to "babysit" and i just knew that i was going to get caught. i went anyway. it was a double date to dinner and a movie (when harry met sally). going home was scary but i did. and that was when my parents decided to ship me off to boarding school. i happened to know someone who'd attended one and recommended it to my parents. what they didn't know was that it was in the same area as the naval training center. ha!

it was thanksgiving weekend that i went to boarding school. (exactly 20 years ago this weekend). my roommate meg was awesome, we were two peas in a pod! we were both sort of "hippie chicks". i quickly got used to living with 20 other girls and the routines. really it wasn't that bad. in fact, it was a lot of fun! though it wasn't the answer to my grades, they still were what they were. i saw my boyfriend a couple times on mall trips. and once on the way back from leave my friend nick brought him and couple friends to the school. i had about 5 or so minutes before i got caught and a lot of "cafeteria hours" to work off for that infraction. but it was worth it.

while i was away, my parents had moved. at the end of the year i really wanted to stay put. but they had me come home. you can say they bribed me quite a bit. truth was that they really couldn't afford such a school. so home i went to a new town. all throughout this time my boyfriend still risked getting into trouble by coming to visit me. he called and wrote often. my parents finally figured out that maybe he wasn't a bad guy and that it was ok. we were ok. though i was bummed about the move, there were benefits...a pool, a car, and a 5 minute drive to the beach!

11th grade, 1990-1991

i fit in pretty well at the new school. i found my group of hippie friends. we ate lunch together under the "hippie tree". my nemesis class, chemistry, was right before lunch. we figured out quickly that i wasn't going to pass this class and my dad felt that the teacher wasn't a very good one, so he was ok with it, as much as he could be. so often times i would leave and pick us up lunch. and occasionally we'd just all leave for an afternoon at the beach. for some reason i'd come back for my last class of the day, history. my hair was beached out, i had sunblock and sand on me and the teacher never said a word. surprisingly i aced all of her tests and actually got A's in a couple classes. don't ask me how, i don't remember.

the weekends were always spent partying. usually someone's parents were away for the weekend so we'd always have a place to stay. my parents became more lenient and i enjoyed the freedom. i still had the same boyfriend, he would join me with my friends. all in all it was a good year. and that's all i can say about that. ;)

12th grade, 1991-1992

this year started out ok. i was in the program that had morning classes and then an afternoon job. i filed at a doctor's office. we started thinking about college. i didn't have the grades to go to a state university like i wanted. but i was interested in new england so my mom and i visited colleges in connecticut and i was accepted to one!!!

i was getting burnt out fast. i started calling out of work and skipping school. when my parents found out they were really disappointed. we talked about it and i told them how i was feeling. well, it turns out i had a pretty severe case of mono and panic attacks. that fall i started homeschooling, i had a teacher who came to the house every so often and a speaker box for the phone to attend "classes".

in the spring i was deemed well enough to return to school. but both problems still lingered, we just didn't know it at the time. so i escaped to the beach for a lot of the time. fortunately i was a senior and didn't need many credits. mostly just the rest of english and science, maybe an elective. i'll admit it, the prospect of me graduating on time was pretty touch and go. i didn't attend my prom and i'm glad about that, you can read about that here. in the end i did graduate and whoa! was my mom relieved! my illnesses still lingered so that meant that going away to college was no longer an option though.

ok so that's the highlights of what i remember of my high school years. looking back i had a lot of fun, even if it seemed stressful at the time. sadly, the first true love and i broke up within the year of my graduation. that was my fault totally, i guess i was just too immature. definitely one of my bigger mistakes in life...but it all works out in the end. oh, and my parents finally seemed to figure out that i really wasn't that bad-i was just a kid and being the only one i guess there was nothing to compare me too.

* the picture. this is 9th grade, the one class krissy and i had together. krissy is on the left, our friend marcy in the middle and me on the right. see that vest krissy is wearing? that one was mine and also so well loved that it's packed away for just because too!