With Max as a freshman and Elle hot on his heels, we are getting a lot more exposure to all the high school hoopla that goes on around here.
I kinda like it.
I took the girls to a basketball game a while back so we could watch one of my Young Women cheer...and also so we could give Max a ride. (I joked that I wanted to sit by him and snuggle at the game but he whisked himself away from his crazy mother to meet his friends lickety-split when we arrived :)
Max goes to a much bigger high school than I did, but I sat there and reminisced about how much is the same.
The friends all standing to cheer and show their support. There were kids who were there solely because they love the game, and others who were there just to have something to do...and to flirt:) I could tell there were some really insecure kids, and some seriously-a-little-too-confident-for-their-own-good kids as well.
(Claire got to give the mascot a high-five...excuse the iPhone blur...)
I watched all that commotion going on and the memories flooded in of my own high school years. Oh man I know not everyone is in love with high school but I sure lucked out. How I adored that time of my life. I could almost see myself there on the front row getting so into the game. There were insecure, super shy times which led gradually to finding my groove. One year my "boyfriend" was on the team and that sure made the games fun :). I think that it's so interesting to see it from the "other side"...my vantage point as an adult. I wanted to tell those shy girls that it'll all work out. I wanted to tell those uber popular kids to please look out for the underdog.
But the interesting thing is that I think it all has it's way of working out on it's own. High school is an age of "becoming," and oh how I hope and pray that my kids can maneuver their way happily around that huge high school of theirs.
I hope they can find good friends like I lucked out with:
I mean, who wouldn't want friends who would take a cheesy picture like this with them? Surprisingly I was not even the person who organized that photo...I have no idea who did. But I do remember being told to wear a dark color and we all showed up with either red or green, a perfect even number of each. What are the chances? We must have been kindred spirits :)
That was back in a time when we were allowed to have lockers in high school (see those red things behind us?). I wonder if anyone still has lockers these days. I'm sad they don't have them any more.
Here some of us are on graduation night...wowzers, nice floral motif, right?
My grandma made me that dress and I was so thankful and pleased. That night we went to a huge school-wide party and then headed up the canyon to our cabin just as the sun was rising listening to Forever Young full-blast with tears in our eyes. We were so sad it was all over.
Little did we know life would get even better...just different.
This last weekend a bunch of those friends came here to the desert.
It was a trip to commemorate (or maybe to lament) the fact we're all turning 40 this year. It is amazing how after all these years we can pick up right where we left off.
We went on a hike:
...and played tennis.
We ate like nobody's business:
(especially since we had some "poor guest experiences" which led to a free meal:)
We stayed at this particular restaurant catching up until they kicked us out at 11:15:
It felt so good to have a chance to commiserate with what everyone is struggling with as well as to celebrate all that is going well. We've all had our challenges and I feel like together we could build each other up and oh I'm just so grateful for how they've done that for me my whole life.
My cheeks still hurt from laughing so much.
I'm so grateful for these girls (and the few who couldn't make it...miss you girls!) I'm so grateful that we somehow found each other all those years ago in that crazy, stressful, exciting time we call high school.Labels: friends
(Claire got to give the mascot a high-five...excuse the iPhone blur...)
I mean, who wouldn't want friends who would take a cheesy picture like this with them? Surprisingly I was not even the person who organized that photo...I have no idea who did. But I do remember being told to wear a dark color and we all showed up with either red or green, a perfect even number of each. What are the chances? We must have been kindred spirits :)
That was back in a time when we were allowed to have lockers in high school (see those red things behind us?). I wonder if anyone still has lockers these days. I'm sad they don't have them any more.
My grandma made me that dress and I was so thankful and pleased. That night we went to a huge school-wide party and then headed up the canyon to our cabin just as the sun was rising listening to Forever Young full-blast with tears in our eyes. We were so sad it was all over.
...and played tennis.
(especially since we had some "poor guest experiences" which led to a free meal:)
It felt so good to have a chance to commiserate with what everyone is struggling with as well as to celebrate all that is going well. We've all had our challenges and I feel like together we could build each other up and oh I'm just so grateful for how they've done that for me my whole life.
I'm so grateful for these girls (and the few who couldn't make it...miss you girls!) I'm so grateful that we somehow found each other all those years ago in that crazy, stressful, exciting time we call high school.