Do You Remember Your Yearbook?
Today I had a flashback. Luckily for everyone involved, I am not a war vet and the flashback did not involve me throwing myself to the ground and yelling INCOMING!! at the top of my lungs. (although I may try that as the end of the school year gets closer and closer and it gets harder and harder to affect the kids….)
Nothing so dramatic or traumatic. Today was the day that the yearbooks began to be distributedd at school. I got my yearbook today! My yearbook!!! A whole year in pictures!! I held it in my hands, staring at the cover. I somehow just couldn’t open it right away. I had to just hold it……while memories of yearbooks of old came flooding in.
Do you remember what it was like when you got your high school year book? I do. First I had to go straight to my picture on the class page, just to make sure I was REALLY there. Then I had to look at all my friends’ pictures as well – just to make sure THEY were REALLY there. Then I flipped to the club sections to make sure I was really in the club picture(s) (which, by the way I KNEW I had posed for – but they could have deleted me by mistake somehow – or used another picture = or SOMETHING!). Those verifications accomplished, I could then flip rapidly through the rest of the book looking for any of the candid impromptu shots that might be there. I was mainly scanning for myself – but pictures of my friends were noticed as well. This secondary scan was done with mixed emotions. I was afraid I wouldn’t be in there – and terrified that I would…in some compromising or unflattering picture. Immortalized there on the pages of my yearbook for all the world to laugh at with. But what was worse, was not to be there at all….not in any way shape or form. To not even be worthy of recognition in a one inch square photo squashed into a photo collage page…….how devastating.
How often did that happen? Well…..I was pretty much nobody in high school. Oh, I participated in activities and clubs. I had friends. I did what I wanted and generally had fun (at times, a little TOO much fun according to the nuns that were my teachers). But I wasn’t one of the IT girls. I wasn’t rich, popular and a cheerleader. I didn’t run for student government and I wasn’t a top scholar. I was just another average face in the crowd, which suited me fine – except at yearbook time.
At yearbook time I secretely hoped that I had been recognized for something – ANYTING worthy of getting a candid shot in the yearbook with a witty little caption. You know the type – Sunshine Wolf shows her style……..underneath a picture of me wearing my DO ME shoes with my Catholic School Girl uniform……..But that didn’t happen much. They photographers DID always seem to like my boyfriends – because THEY were often featured in several shots of the dances and proms…You’d see my shoulder – and a drop dead gorgeous profile of my man. You’d see my back and his winning smile. Argh.
So there I stood today, yearbook in hand. Thirty years later – am I cool enough yet? I opened the book and the ritual began. Yep – there I am in the faculty pages. And yes… in the “team” photos – there I am with the members of my team. And there are the faculty members that I feel closest to. So far, so good. But now for the BIG test. Am I candidly represented anywhere?
Flip, flip, flip….through the pages. Oh look! A picture of the committee for Black History month….I’m there. And look – a picture of the spaghetti dinner. No….two pictures. One of the serving crew and one of just me! No, I wasn’t REALLY gonna flip that meatball of the spoon at the photographer…..it just LOOKED that way! And there I am at the track meet…..timing runners! Whew. Look how long it took me to get there – but I am definately feeling like I’m on the verge of coolness.
Mission accomplished. I started looking at the pictures of the kids….and remembering the year. I am really going to miss the 8th graders when they graduate. I’ve been around them for 2 years now…and have enjoyed growing up with them immensely.
Oh! Side note – I saw one of the 8th graders who graduated last year at tonight’s football game. He asked me if I was going to come see him play High School football this coming school year. Is that not the best?!! He wants me to come see him play! So I told him to make sure he got me a schedule and I would be SURE to come watch!
Let me explain why I’m so tickled. Just a couple of days ago at another middle school in this county a student was arrested for trying to poison her teacher. The teacher would not let her go to the bathroom so the girl poured whiteboard cleaning fluid into the teacher’s lemonade. Nice, huh? No – I am not going off on a rant about HOME LIFE (but I sure would like to!) This is going to sound a little goofy perhaps – but I am so pleased to again be on the verge of coolness. I am being asked to come watch future football games, not being treated to a trip to the ER courtesy of my students.
Speaking of which – back to today’s football game. There was also a girl’s volleyball game – against our arch nemesis. We won. Volleyball and Football. The principal was ecstatic! Another victory for us! He was SO dang happy that he turned to me and asked what I was going to cook for everyone tomorrow for a victory celebration!!!! WHAT!?!
The man has some serious issues he needs to deal with. And if he doesn’t deal with them soon…..next year’s candid yearbook photos may show me pummeling him with meatballs and a wooden spoon!
You are the teacher I want to be. The cool one, the one everyone remembers, the one who changes your life. Throw that meatball and love. Accidents are always happening in the kitchen. It could be a great example to a room full of students…How not to play with food!
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oh yes, throw meatballs at him! LOL And yes I remember my yearbooks, I have them all upstairs in the bookcase! LOL 🙂
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I was delighted, myself, to discover that it’s NEVER too late to be popular in high school!!
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that’s not like me with yearbooks at all.
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RYN: Thanks for the support in my weight loss journey thingy! This is a lovely entry and so touching that that one student wants you to come watch him play in HS. It’s interesting you mentioned yearbooks because I was going to write an entry about an odd note I got at a “signing party.” Good lord, I hadn’t thought about that party in all these years. Didja hafta remind me:-)
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I’m so glad you made it to cool. What a relief! My yearbooks testify to utter uncoolness, blessed ignorance and really bad hair. LOL
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ahaha.. oh, fond memories of yearbooks. i was pretty much the same as you in high school. what was especially important was that people wrote cool things about me. lol! but, the time came when my own kids were in elementary school and they had yearbooks, too! low and behold, there i was! woot! PTA prez, room helper, etc. i’d made it to the i-am-somebody pages! 🙂
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of course, i still looked to see how complimentary the pictures were of my self. lol! then, i became a highschool dropout as far as parent involvement… although i’m not sure parents made it into those yearbooks. i think it was then i began thumbing through them looking for my own kids..
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That’s something we don’t get over here…or didn’t in my day! 🙁 Hugz
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I know what the secret it. I know, because I was that ADD, squirrelly, ragamuffin with the tag, “She’s so bright, if only she would apply herself.” The secret is that some teachers really love you and aren’t afraid of letting you know. They are not just encouragers…. they are great bursts of wind beneath your wings. They love you back and that’s okay too, Sunshine.
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*ryn* Like my boss gave me this project and stuck around the last few weeks? (snort) I could have undressed and wore envelopes and he would never had known. lol
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i had a teacher sort of like you in jr high school. she taught me to read for the love of it. she taught me that the world isn’t fair and to get over it. (still working on that one) congratulations on being one of the cool ones! from the bits i’ve read here, you work hard at it and with much love.
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I was a huge nobody in high school. Shy and reserved, I did not fit in with the “in” crowd. But I did make it in one candid photo in my senior year. ryn: Yep, once something becomes the rage (like the Red Hat poem), it no longer interests me. I’m that way with almost everything; I’m the one who rents the obscure movies, obscure books, etc. What foul thing in my soul rises up and makes me be this
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way, huh, hmmmm, hah???? You’re the teacher, Ms. Wolf, explain this hunger for individuality to me that translates to just “being myself” and not giving a sh*t if I fit in. I’ll meet you at the Red Hat Luncheonette and we can discuss. Be there or be square!
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I lost all of my yearbooks and even though I can get them again, it wouldn’t be the same because they would be unsigned so I just hold the memories in my photogenic heart. Be well,Monica
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This was a great entry. Made me think about my yearbooks again, from so many years ago. You are cool, and have a great writing style.
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My mother-in-law worked in schools for years and years. She never liked her yearbook pictures until about five years after they were taken. You captured the moment beautifully. I’m still laughing over your remark about the principal and his issues! : )
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What is it with Americans and cheerleaders? We don’t seem to have any AT ALL! I’ve never actually seen one even – just heard a lot about them. Is it true that if you are a cheerleader you are automatically popular? Is it like a one-way ticket to stardom?
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Thanks for the note (and the idea for an entry!).
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You put a great big smile on my face. How I remember those HS days. You’re lucky to get the relive them each year. Take care,
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Way, way cool!
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I was never one of the popular girls. And to be honest I’d have to find my yearbooks to see where i was in them. don’t think we really had the candid shots they have now.
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OH Girl, you make me laugh so hard! You brought back so many memories of year book time in my high school. I was such a mousie nobody though, the only pics I had were of my home room class. It’s touching that your student wants you to still attend his football games. And yes hit the principle with a meatball or the wooden spoon! *with a giggle & a warm hug*
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Congratulations on achieving coolness. (After thirty years?)
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i worked on year book my jr and sr years, so I was able to exorcise any photo’s of myself which I felt had no business being in anyone else’s year book for the rest of their lives. I was photo editor, which meant I decided on what pictures made it wnd which didn’t. and none of mine did. How did I miss that? Very carefully.. my teacher said,”There’s no photo of you.” & I said,”I know”.
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Beloved Wolf, you are ultimately cool. With a big hug…T, the unsigned and still reeling
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Being a cool teach in school is the shit! Those were the teachers I always learned the most from and never, ever forgot. And now for my yearbook flashback: Stay as sweet as U R!
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You are just SO FUNNY! I was not popular in HS, not a joiner, in fact I hated school. The year book didn’t even interest me. I just assumed I’d look bad in the picture. What a surprise then to love this entry so much. I think if I had even one teacher like you my impression of school would have been so much better. You are COOL!
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