Writer’s Workshop: High School Yearbook

4.) Dig out your high school yearbook and share a message a friend wrote that stands out to you.

I opened my senior yearbook to find so many wonderful messages from friends and people I can’t remember that I’m certain would embarrass us all. It’s a strange thing when you think about it….to hand someone a book and be all “Hey! Write something meaningful  in here and make it quick…Sara needs to sign it before 4th period is over.”

Imagine if that was standard behavior over the course of our entire lives. Every year when June comes around we compile that years worth of pictures and then ask everyone in our lives to sign it. Your boss, coworkers, family members, friends…and since the number of messages and signatures in your yearbook is a direct reflection of how many friends you have, you find yourself asking people you never really knew that well to sign it as well….neighbors, the mailman, the gal who sits behind you on the bus on your way to work…

But in high school it’s perfectly normal. We all get yearbooks and we all hound one another to write in them. We would carry our yearbooks home, lock ourselves in our bedrooms and slowly comb through each and every message, soaking in all the wonderful things everyone had to say about us and then we’d be all “man….I really am as amazing as I thought I was…aren’t I? THESE PEOPLE LOVE ME!!!!”

All this in preparation for a three month vacation from one another. Three months. Nobody was dying, we’d surely be meeting up every weekend at some bonfire or house party, and yet…the goodbyes and drawn out yearbook messages were so necessary!

The following is a compilation of all of my friends messages converged into one…I couldn’t risk losing all my friends by singling any one person out. All of these sentences come from actual entries in my yearbook from actual friends who’s identities will remain protected:

“Kathy,

I feel like it is July 4, 1776 FREEDOM.  We’ve been through so much together. You have an awesome personality. You’re so funny. You are a very strong person with great options. Thanks for being nice to me even though you’re bigger than me. I think I could actually invite you to one of my b-day parties without you having to come through someone else. I went to the dance like you told me to and some of the people were acting in a way that makes me think some pretty troubling crap goes on around here. Good luck in Davis and with winning Pat’s heart, you’ll get him someday! I hate to think of a future without you. Don’t change for anyone. Don’t lose your wit in college. Don’t be a stranger.

Yours truly

Class of 97″

I don’t know what to make of it all…other than that it pretty much sums up my entire high school experience and also somehow managed to predict my present day life with Pat. Proof of my infatuation with him in high school. My dear friends can rest assured I did not lose my wit in college, but am at my “wit’s end” now as a mother. We never saw THAT coming, did we?

Now it’s your turn!

Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!

The Prompts:

1.) Write about a time you were forced to step out of your comfort zone.
2.) Time for a break! Show us where you go for quiet time.
3.) You know you’re a Mom when…
4.) Dig out your high school yearbook and share a message a friend wrote that stands out to you.
5.) Share something you learned embarrassingly late in life.