As you all know, I'm writing about my trip to California in 1988. When I returned from that trip I wrote a lot of the events down. I have since lost that information and have been writing about our journey from my weary memory. Last night I searched through my boxes of keepsakes, looking for my notes on the Cally trip, but instead I found items such as my baseball trophies, my one and only home run baseball and various other items, including my junior high and high school yearbooks.
As I scanned through my yearbook I was amazed at how many people I remembered and how many memories flooded back in for ready perusal. People like Jodi Smith, Laura Gonzalez (my first crush in 3rd grade), Robin Banks (my second crush from 4th - 8th grade), David Greenblat, Tracy Steubs, Larry Forbish, Steve Bishoff, Andrea Bailey, Missy Marriot and more. I looked over all of the signatures, only recognizing a few.
I found a couple of pictures of me in the yearbook from our performance of Look Homeward, Angel (including the one here where I try and catch Mike Garcia). It was that performance that made me realize the effect of star power. I played the lead and after the school saw the show people treated me differently. Girls had crushes on me... well on my character, not really on me. At one point in the play, I have a liason with a young woman and we wake up next to each other in the morning (hint, hint). A few days later, after the play, a cute girl whom would never talk to me came up to me, flustered, and told me just how much she enjoyed the play. Then she said "you can wake up next to me any time," smiled and left.That, my friends, is the power of stardom.
Anyway, my little trip down memory lane was a fun one. I got to relive some of the fun past moments and realize that my brain still fully functioned... it just needed a good kick to get going again.
And I realized one more thing... I have my brother Charles' junior high year book from 1977. I'll have to drop that off next time I see him.
When over twenty years has passed since your high school graduation, pull out the books and enjoy the trip. You'll be surprised how much comes flooding back... I was.
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1 comment:
You must have been at Riviera Middle School at roughly the same time I was. I recognized many of the names you listed: Laura Gonzalez lived across the canal from me (the canal that divided the St. Pete High district from the Northeast High one, hence I was a Green Devil for a year); I knew Robin Banks rather well (but didn't get the joke inherent in her name until years later) or at least I had classes with her, and maybe a bit of a crush on her as well.
My big crush in 8th grade at Riviera was on Larry Forbish's sister, Patty. I wonder whatever happened to her ...
- Jeff
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