5 Things I Miss From High School

Notes from Jess: This post has been written and scheduled ahead of today due to traveling and the unknown whereabouts of stable internet connection. This post is a part of the #BlogEveryDayInJuly challenge.  For more information about this challenge and how I'm going to complete it this month, you can check it out here.  Also, lovely credit to Jeane and Jem for the for the challenge button and for hosting/starting/inviting everyone to the challenge this month!

 Today's prompt is "things you miss" so I decided to do something a bit themed today and since I was scrolling through photos the other day.

The seniors in the cast and crew of Guys and Dolls (Fall 2011).
I'm the second from the left on the back row, and yes, I was a man, again in this show.
I learned to sing and dance without my glasses even though I was instructed not to.

1. Having a structured schedule. No matter what, I always knew that I had some place to be and something to do.  There wasn't much time to purposely avoid doing something because someone somewhere would give me the "really, Jess?" look and end up guilt tripping myself into doing something productive, even when I least wanted to.

2.  Theatre.  I think I miss this the most. There's times when I find myself thinking about my high school theatre family and I wish I could go back and relive it all.  Theatre taught me so much about myself and it gave me a wonderful set of friends that became my family after four years together.  I have yet to feel as accomplished after a big project than I felt after striking a set of a successful show.  I learned what hard work was and appreciated it and this thing called time.


3.  The teachers who cared enough to tell me I was on the wrong path.  I'm talking about the ones that realized the bad habits I had when it came to studying and completing coursework.  Not every teacher showed me mercy and tough love but instead let me continue the path I was on.  The teachers who showed me mercy (like letting me go back and complete way overdue assignments for full credit) also made sure that I knew I was smart enough and good enough to do well.  They encouraged me to want to do better.  I didn't graduate at the top of my class or anything, but I graduated and part of that is for the teachers who told me how it was and encouraged me along the way.  Now, in the real world I just have to follow my instincts and my heart and some times that's really difficult.

4.  Friday night football.  You would think after attending nearly every home football game when I was in high school that I would know something about the game.  Wrong.  I miss Friday football mostly just for the togetherness atmosphere of being in the student section.  I particularly miss Friday night football from senior year when we got the closet and best seating of the whole student section.  Singing the alma mater together at the end of a tough game our boys won was always something special.

Senior Prom (Spring 2012)  I wore the hunting boots my dad gave me
to prom because my dress was the perfect length and I didn't want to
bother spending forever finding flats in size 11 to wear maybe once
or twice.  Besides, I didn't care if I stepped in goose poop!

5.  All the times we got to dress up.  I'm talking about formals, prom, fancy theatre costuming, award ceremonies and graduation.  I may not have enjoyed the process of getting dressed up but normally at the end of the day I had enjoyed myself.  Senior year was a definite favorite when it came to prom attire (the dress I wore was the first and only dress I tried on and was only $124!) and the two dresses I wore on graduation day (ladies were required to wear white dresses under our white robes and since I can't keep anything clean I had another dress for after the ceremony).  Looking back those special occasions were a really special times.

What a throw back!  I still laugh at my senior prom photos remembering the day full of funny and exciting stories.

What do you miss? I must admit, I'm really missing my three fur babies that we had to leave in Kansas for this trip.  I can't wait to see them on Monday!