Blogging with a Purpose: High School Back Then

In our little town, we used to have three schools - an elementary school (K-5th grade), a middle school (6th-8th grade) and a high school (9th-12th grade).  However, my 5th grade year, they decided it would be the last year that they would be operating the middle school.  There wasn't going to be enough funding for all the overhead costs and the district could no longer afford to run all three schools.

Instead of transitioning into the middle school for my 6th grade year, we were sharing a building with high school seniors.  It was a bit of culture shock to say the least.  Many parents worried about the affect this would have on their children - and probably rightfully so.  The school did it's best to keep the middle-schoolers and high-schoolers segregated....different start/end times and different bell schedules, but in a small town, that really isn't enough.
  

I remember seeing some of the juniors and seniors in the halls, or at athletic events, they always seemed so OLD, so much more mature *well...maybe not always mature*  But looking back, they seemed so much older than I felt when I was a junior and senior in high school.  Maybe it is just perspective....or maybe not.

It seems like "children" are so much younger these days, and at the same time grow up faster, than we did.  When I WAS a senior in high school, the freshman seemed SO YOUNG.  And now, I don't know most of the kids in the high school anymore.  But if I saw them on the street and tried to guess their age, I have a feeling my guess would be low by a few years.  They just don't seem old enough to be "almost-adults."

*And yes...that is sparkling cider...I was a good girl in high school*

I think about some of the hard decisions that we had to make in high school....like whether to do your homework and work hard on your grades in order to get into a good college and further your chances of getting into a good career, or go out and party with your friends.  Like can you still trust the girl who used to be your best friend, or have you outgrown each other and is she really talking about you behind your back.  Follow the rules?  Or do what you want?  Were we really equipped to make these types of decisions....are the kids today?

High school seems like such a long time ago.  In reality, it hasn't even been 10 years since we graduated - but it seems like a lifetime.  Some friends are gone, and some have grown closer.  We have gone separate ways, but still remain tied together by those memories.  I'm looking forward to our 10 year reunion in a couple of years and seeing what some of the people that I haven't kept in touch with have been up to.

To link up and share your thoughts on high school, go to From Mrs. to Mama.

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This Weekend I . . .

1. Went to a housewarming/birthday party at some friends' house and played with their cute twins and other kiddos

2. Got some editing work done while sipping some Starbucks

3. Took pictures of a sweet little boy, his momma and big sister

4. Read my first FREE copy of 'Popular Photography'

5. Watched my husband and his friend "redo" their flowerbed by uprooting the hydrangeas using the truck to tow them out

6. Attempted a first birthday session in Astoria, but got "fogged out"