Strolling, Strolling....Strolling Makes Me Quiver: The Jr. High and High School Years

(Okay. Lame title, but I had to pay a little tribute to Tina Turner ~ she was one of my favorites of the 80's and this blog post is ALL about the 80's. Which is by far one the best decades EV-AH!!)

Unfortunately, I accidentally forgot to give Monk my 7th grade picture to scan. :( Bummer. I essentially looked the same as 6th grade except for the fact that I had a really cool navy blue corduroy blazer on. I thought I was all that and a little bit more in that blazer. Now I just realize that the whole female blazer era was just really bad taste.

I was loving Jr. High! There was more independence and I didn't have to deal with all the idiots from elementary school. PLUS I was reunited with a lot of my friends from my first elementary school. I thought I was exceptionally cool because I now had a locker and got to change classes every period. Life was good.

I changed a lot from 7th grade to 8th grade. In 8th grade though, I was allowed to wear a little blush AND lip gloss. Oh yes, this was the high point of my little 13 year old life!

And please notice my clothes are not disheveled even one eency weency bit!



9th grade was another interesting year for pictures. It was the year of the Bi-Level haircut. Which I can tell you right now is just a fancy name for a mullet. And yes, I had one. I will have to muster up a picture from somewhere to show to y'all because you simply MUST see it.

9th grade was also the year that I started taking my drama theatre seriously. I LOVED to act and I was in all the plays that year. Interestingly enough, there weren't enough guys for one particular play so I played the part of a bald man. Let me tell you, it was not fun getting all my hair under that rubber cap.

I had also attended 4 weeks worth of music camp the previous summer and was now first chair trumpet in the band. I was excited that I was going to get to be in marching band in high school and couldn't wait for band camp. Ha! Little did I know!

As a side note: the last day of school in 9th grade I went to the theater to see Ghostbusters!!! Who Ya Gonna Call?!?!?!

10th grade brought SO many new things to my life! Marching band, more drama more theatre, boys, chocolate malts at lunch and so much more! While the general rule in our house was that I couldn't date until I was 16, my mom conceded and let me go on my first date when I was 15 1/2 years old. A few months later I had my first kiss. It also brought my first break up, but I was okay with that because I liked my friends better any way!

I was now allowed to wear full make up and my mullet bi-level was finally growing out!



11th grade was a rough year for me, so to speak. My first boyfriend and I had rekindled our relationship and were dating again and kids, I was head over heals for him. There was SO MUCH DRAMA in my life, too! On stage and real life!

I was made first chair trumpet in 11th grade and the pressure to perform was almost unbearable. A lot of the senior players resented me and I soon began to resent band. I now had my driver's license and me and my friend Jules went EVERYWHERE together ~ the new found freedom was great! I would drive and drive listening to .... wait for it ... cassette tapes!! ha! Phil Collins, Lionel Richie, Air Supply, Huey Lewis and the News, The Pointer Sisters and Cyndi Lauper just to name a few! I was struggling through Chemistry and actually failed the second semester of Geometry (I had never failed anything! Ever!). I hated Geometry.

It was also the year that the drama club (the actual club and not my specific group of friends!) decided to do a musical. I was in band and sang in church, but boy was I surprised to land a lead role in Guys and Dolls! And thus was born my unusual love for Broadway show tunes! I played Miss Adelaide and had to produce a thick New York accent! It was one of the best memories of my life!

My boyfriend at the time (remember, the one I was head over heals for?) asked me to his prom (he was a senior)! I was SO excited! I went and bought a dress and then guess what? He broke up with me! Heart broken, I would drive for hours listening to Lionel Richie croon out Stuck On You. He finally decided that since he had already asked me and I had already bought a dress that he still wanted to take me. Good thing too, cause Lionel was wearing out! (FYI: still one of my favorite songs of all time!)

Let me tell you my friends, when that boy saw me on Prom Night ..... he swooned. I saw it! And here we were. Prom 1986. I still have this dress by the way. Cool, huh? This was one of the best nights of high school! I had a ball!



This picture was my summer before my senior year. Isn't my room all dainty? So not me. And clean, too! It was rarely like that so I'm glad I have photographic evidence! Ironically, I thought I was fat here. I wish I was that fat again.



My senior year was bittersweet for me. I had a lot of senior friends from the year before and missed them terribly, but I was SO happy about being a senior that I wasn't sure how to feel at all. I had a new boyfriend, Andy. I'd met him at church camp over the summer and we fell madly in love. He was 19 and moved from Ohio to Michigan just to be with me. Our song was Glory of Love by Peter Cetera from Karate Kid II (sticking finger down throat and gagging profusely - not at the song, just the whole our song thing).

I absolutely HATED band and the band director by this time and it was starting to show. I had been secretly tapped to be Drum Major for that marching season and turned it down at the last minute. My mother was furious with me, but I just wanted to be with my unit and not have anymore pressure. Over the year it became worse and I almost quit band and joined the choir, but my mother had put her foot down. After I graduated I barely picked up my instrument again. I sold it a few years ago.

The drama club did another musical ~ this time it was Gypsy. Now do y'all know anything about Gypsy? Yea well, neither did I until I landed the lead role and THEN found out Gypsy Rose Lee was a famous BURLESQUE DANCER!!! Try telling that one to your youth pastor when he wants to come and watch the show! Can you imagine my mother telling people I was the lead role in the school musical and when they ask what part, she replies, "Oh, she's the stripper!". Eegads, people. I, however, did not strip one teency bit. Gypsy was considered the Lady of Burlesque. Ahem.

Prom that year was not fun in the least. Andy was being dumb, my hair was bad and I missed my friends from the previous year. We did, however, drive to prom in a Fiero!!! Oh my, we thought we were cool.

See? He just looked like he was acting dumb, didn't he?



By the way, Scarlett O'Hara called and she wants her dress back.

Here is one of my senior pictures. I thought these boots were all it, y'all! Fringe was so cool. These boots would be in style right now if I still had them!



And then the yearbook shot... and just so you know... I cried the day I graduated. I didn't want to be done.



Oh, to have that smooth skin and 80's hair once again... ::sigh::

Next up: The College Years and more!