A Walk Down Memory Lane

Tonight, as I was in the kitchen stuffing my face full of freshly made gluten-free cookies, I decided to take a walk down memory lane -- I wanted to go back to my senior year of high school. My little brother, who is a senior now, comes home with tons of stories for me which make me cringe even thinking about because I am the most over-protective, over-bearing big sister that one could ever have. (Sorry, Brent!) However, as I was listening to his stories from his extravaganzas from the previous weekend, I began to think about my senior year and what it felt like to be eighteen again. 

Pulling out my scrapbook from my senior year, I can admit that my heart sank a little bit. I knew before I opened that green scrapbook, I would be overwhelmed with the sensations, emotions, feelings, and thoughts that my teenage self experienced. They would all come back to me. Opening up to the first page, I experienced flashbacks from senior night sporting events and Friday night football games. I saw pictures from my prom and senior week. Then it hit me; I would never be able to relive these memories again with the people who were beside me in all these photographs. But that's okay -- because the memories that I have pouring out onto this blog will be buried inside of my for the rest of my life.

One of the first memories that I have about my senior year was the boys' soccer team senior night. My friends and I decided to be classy and show up in sports bras with our stomach painted. I was beyond obnoxious screaming my face off and cheering the boys on. You know, just showing my school spirit. However, it wasn't until I got called into the assistant principal's office the next day that I found out that "walking around in public without a shirt on, especially during sporting events, is very slutty." Yep, one of the best memories I have of my senior year was our assistant principal telling me that the girls and myself looks slutty cheering on our boys. It was the best, most awkward conversation I had ever had with an adult.

Then came cross country...the team had my heart and soul. I was so in love with the sport and my teammates. They were my backbone, and I would give anything to be able to put back on my old uniform and race just one more 5k with them. I can remember after school practices running around the schools and on back country roads with my teammates. During the practices it didn't matter who was the leader of the pack...it was just so nice running beside your teammates, hearing the rhythmic patterns of our feet grazing the ground, and the occasional chat with the person beside you. It was heaven on earth for me. Take me back....

The Steelers won their 6th ring my senior year, so that obviously had to make my scrapbook. That night I went over to my friend's house who, I swear, was watching me more than the game. He had never seen anyone get so worked up over a football game, especially a girl. When they won, I hollered so loud and cried that his dog even left the room. (Thank goodness he has an apartment now where I can get as loud and carried away as I want to when our football teams and UNC/Duke are on.) The next day, I wore my Hines Ward jersey around school while boasting about how awesome they were and how we have six rings while everyone else sucked. Yep, I was that person. Sadly, this hasn't changed too much. Oops! 

11 girls went out for my 18th birthday. I had the greatest group of girlfriends around and if most of them weren't married, mothers, or scattered out all over country, I am sure we would still be getting together monthly for girls nights. We thought we were so cool walking into the local gas station and buying cigarettes, cigars, and lottery tickets. I smoked my first cigar that night and felt like a total bad ass. Looking back at the pictures, I look like an idiot. You live and you learn.

Pages and pages consisting of collages built around friends and memories had me going back to the time of no stress, no anxiety, no real-life pressures, no car payments, no life insurance policies, no job searching, no resume building...it was great to place myself inside my old high school and be 18 again. To feel the rush of excitement when I would see my crush walking down the hall to me; to feel the jitters of competing against other schools during sports; the happiness of hugging your best friends in a picture together, and the heartwarming memory of being voted class friendliest :) 

As I flip through the pages of memories, looking at the nights of Dance off Pants Off, Donkey Basketball, Girl's nights, parties, and nights with my favorite boys, I can only begin to smile and think to myself what a wonderful year of my life I had lived. What a wonderful year full of friendship, smiles, heartbreaks, hook-ups, parties, laughter, traveling, sporting events, and most importantly love.