My high school graduation photo
I don’t know why this popped into my mind as a blog topic on a writerly, bookish blog, but it did, so I’m going with it.
Here are the memories that surfaced first (and remember, these memories are close to 60 years old):
- The student who brought peach Schnapps to school and got caught. I’m pretty sure he isn’t on social media much, if at all, so hopefully he doesn’t see this. He is one of my good friends who’ve stayed in touch over the years. The others weren’t quite so rebellious.
- The guy who bounced when he did the Lindy Hop. He was cute though. And he grew up to be a very handsome guy, and musical too.
- The girl who was so brilliant in math class she made me want to cry.
- The group of girls (including me) who dressed up in white shirts and black slacks and did a choreographed performance of “St. Louis Blues” for entertainment for one of our dances. I think we were a big hit (at least that’s the way I remember it).
- The group that dressed up like hillbillies and performed “Doing What Comes Naturally” for a talent show. If my memory serves correctly, we were brilliant.
- The day I got sick at school and a friend loaned me her very nice sweater because I was chilled…..and I threw up on the sweater.
- The day my English teacher gave me back the poem I’d written and told me I should consider being a writer…(I think about this a lot because I suspect she would be horrified I chose crime fiction over poetry and literary works).
- The one time in four years I tried to skip a class (gym) and was so dumb I skipped with a bunch of girls and we only went to the greasy spoon diner near the school and probably gorged ourselves on greasy fries. And yes, we got in trouble for it, but I can’t remember the punishment.
- The time I tried out for a play and won the part of Penny in “You Can’t Take It With You” senior year. I have zero recollection of the performance. For all I know, I stood frozen on the stage while everyone recited my lines for me. My husband was in that play as well but probably remembers his lines perfectly, even now. (Yes, we met in high school, never dated, didn’t see each for 25 years after graduation, then met again and got married…and we recently celebrated our 30th anniversary).
- The school I attended was the lab school for the University of Illinois, and many of the students were so smart they took 7th and 8th grade in one year. I went in as a normal freshman and I received top notch grades. However, the majority of the other students received “top-notcher” grades than I did, forcing me and my good grades into the bottom half of the class. Now that’s the thing that makes me think of writers and writing. Some of us produce some pretty darned good stories, but there’s a bunch of authors out there who produce “gooder” stories, and so there we are, still swimming around in the lower half of the class. Just like high school.
Okay, that’s enough of that nonsense. I knew we’d somehow end up talking about writing and the writing life. If you’re a writer who feels as though you’re down here in the bottom half with me, care to join me for a glass of whine…or maybe we should try the peach Schnapps?
One of the things I like about Facebook is my having gotten back in touch with high school friends I’d lost track of. I’m lucky that I’ve stayed friends with a couple of them this whole time. And, yes, married one. 🙂
You, too? I think it happens a lot.
I like Facebook for that reason as well, although I’m finding that some of my old friends are bailing out of computerdom including email. Somehow snail mail letters rarely get written and we end up out of touch.
Love the memory about your English teacher and the poem!
Funny about your husband! My husband was one of the first people I met during college orientation and we were friends all through school, but we didn’t date until we graduated. Weird how things turn out, isn’t it? You just never know.
I was sitting next to a man on the exercise bikes at the gym a week ago and eavesdropped on his conversation — he was telling about reconnecting with a girl from high school about 20 years after graduation and getting married. He said she claimed she had to wait until he grew up before she’d go out with him.
I enjoyed your memories. Sounds like you went to an excellent school. I was such a goody two-shoes in school that I never tried to skip class. But my physics teacher let me and my friend leave his class and go to the local ice cream shop and bring back treats for him and us. We felt so naughty.
I was kind of a good two-shoes as well, which is why that one big adventure skipping gym class during senior year has stuck with me. I felt very naughty that day…
That’s a pretty good cache of memories. I don’t remember much about high school, but I was so socially disengaged during those years that I didn’t pay much attention to anything back then. I probably remember a fair amount about the music of the time and the TV shows, but what happened in school?–not much comes to mind really.
Arlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
I know a lot of guys who feel that way about high school, Lee. I wonder if it’s only the girls who had a good time.
I think we all have those really strong memories of high school, Pat. I know I do. None of them involves peach schnapps, but there were some interesting characters at my school! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Margot! I think we’re lucky if we have interesting and quirky characters in our high schools as well as later in life — it prepares us to write quirky characters into our novels.
You probably remember more than I do! Bummer about your friend’s sweater. Funny you went to school with your husband but didn’t get together until many years later. My wife wouldn’t have dated me in high school either. (Had we gone to the same school.)
I even sat next to my husband in a couple of classes because alphabetically our names were close together….but he was just a kid (one of those who took the 7th and 8th grades together) and I was an older woman by a year and a half. It didn’t matter so much when we were in our 40s.