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.

Similar Posts

33 Comments

  1. No lockers?! I'm way out here in a small town in North Carolina any my middle school son has a locker. I'm not sure about the high school. Honestly, I've never heard about lockers being removed from schools.

    I have a lot of good high school memories too. And also some I'd love to forget. 🙂

  2. My three year old has a locker at preschool! Cutest little thing I ever saw!!! (me and my fiends took a cheesy group shot too. it wasn't just you)

  3. Funny thing – just this morning I dropped my jr. high-age daughter off with no less than 3 heavy bags full of books and softball gear, plus lunch and a poster board. No lockers for her either – carrying all of that around through six classes a day. Poor things!

  4. You guys have no lockers? Really? Our high school kids have lockers. (We live in Canada.) So the kids are just expected to be well-prepared then, and carry what they will need with them in backpacks throughout the day? Ouch!

  5. We have lockers in PA. I didn't know it was uncommon! With all the books, folders, pens, pencils, calculators, etc. they have to have, I'd probably buy them all rolling suitcases so they don't end up with back problems!

  6. There are lockers in every high school in my area. I've never heard of no lockers! Interesting. I was thinking maybe here in the far north cold country we need them for big coats and such, but high school kids around here (my son included) just wear sweatshirts or hoodies–even when it is 20 below zero!

  7. I had no clue about the lockers?! We homeschool, so I'm a bit out of the loop.
    Love that you had good memories and reunion. What a lovely group of friends. 🙂

  8. SO fun trying to match up the teenage girl to the grown up women. That is neat you women can get together for a milestone b-day, in the Desert. AZ Desert is my favorite place to be in the winter or really anytime.

  9. What are you eating in that 3rd to last picture. Most of you have it and it looks SO delicious!!!

    And you know you are having a good time when they kick you out, good job!

  10. That's so crazy about the lOckers. I've never heard of that. I live in Utah and the bush school down the road is less than five years old and has lockers. I've really never heard of a high school without them. That'd be crazy.

  11. That is so cool Shawni.
    I am from Canada and we still have lockers in elementary, Jr high and High School. Hugh! Our High Schools are large but do not have the seating in the gym like that school you photographed. Wow!

    How wonderful to reunite with your HS friends. So fun.

  12. you really are lucky to have those friends. i loved high school sooo much, but i was such a floater so i don't have a cohesive group like you. i remember idolizing you and those girls! love you shawn. let's talk soon

  13. I loved high school too and had a wonderful group of friends as well. I recognize some of your friends from going to the U (I went to Olympus). Sarah Graham married Brett who I grew up with. Small Mormon world 🙂

  14. This post made me think of this C.S. Lewis quote that I love:

    "In Friendship…we think we have chosen our peer. In reality a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another…the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting—any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances.

    A secret Master of Ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends “You have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.” The Friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of others."
    –C.S. Lewis

    I love your blog!

    Jen Jacob

  15. There are still lockers all over Illinois! Glad you had a great time with your high school friends! I sometimes miss high school…especially when I worked at one. I am no hurry for my two year old to be in high school though! 🙂

  16. The top photo of all your girls is so classic. I think just about everyone had one of those Ralph Lauren shirts worn tucked in with white t-shirt sometimes underneath along with jeans, white socks and penny loafers or a similar like shoe. So glad your were able to get together with your friends. We do the same thing every couple of years. This year we all gathered to also celebrate 40!

  17. my kids have lockers! in junior high and high school! why would they not? that's weird! never heard of that! I mean 5th grade and under have cubbies or hooks, but older kids have lockers!

    I loved high school for the most part!

    I think you SHOULD tell those shy, unsure girls exactly what you wanted to tell them, don't worry, it will all turn out and they will have a beautiful life! why not?!

    have a great day!
    tara

  18. You don't know me, at all. But I recognize 3 of your high school girl friends. I lived across the street from Elizabeth Dunn, around the corner from Laurel Newman and down the street from Julie Sloan. I was also their Laurel Adviser. Small world.

  19. This was a fun post to read…So fun to see those photos from high school..they made me nostalgic. And fun to see everyone in the photos from your "reunion"! There was only one face that I didn't recognize. And now you have me wondering who your "boyfriend" was that was on the basketball team…I was so out of the loop. Lol!!

  20. The floral dresses? Awesome. (Yep, age-contemporary much?)
    And fear not for lockers, they are alive and well and used frequently in the mid-Atlantic too!

  21. The floral dresses? Awesome. (Yep, age-contemporary much?)
    And fear not for lockers, they are alive and well and used frequently in the mid-Atlantic too!

  22. The floral dresses? Awesome. (Yep, age-contemporary much?)
    And fear not for lockers, they are alive and well and used frequently in the mid-Atlantic too!

  23. Looks like a fun trip. I'm glad you posted these. I'm a good friend of Marie here in SLC. Thanks for blogging on her behalf. I wondered how her trip went. 🙂

    I can't get over the floral dresses. And to see Marie back then…allthough you all haven't changed much. Still looking so great at 40! Fun stuff!

  24. I love seeing those pictures of all you girls then and now – Marie and Sara are also my friends, and I haven't seen them for ages! What a fun reunion.

  25. What a small world – you are friends with Sara! It was such a hoot to see her. She was the RS President in our student ward at the U way back in the day. She is so awesome! And I think her brother was just called to be the mission president in Houston. Next mission over from my parents.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *