1992

Being super shy I didn't sell any oranges for our band fund raiser and therefore did not have any money to go to the big trip that year. There was a handful of us that didn't go so during that week we watched movies during band. I had been in band all three trimesters when most other people were in it for one or two. I should have gotten a letter for band but when he awarded them at the end of the year I was left off the list. My sister confronted him because I was too shy and he couldn't come up with a reason why I didn't get one when my sister pointed out I met all the requirements and then some. I never received the letter. I think he withheld it because he had told my mom I needed private lessons to get better and he would be glad to do that for a certain price. I knew my parents couldn't afford that so I told my mom to forget it and I wouldn't be in band the next year. It wasn't really a hard decision since the band director was never really nice to me. He favored other band members and was obvious about who he favored.

My older brother had graduated the year before and had gone off to the Army and so I had gotten my own room. That gave me a lot of privacy. I also got a hamster, which I named Jordan, after my favorite New Kid. My room was of course decorated in their posters. I didn't get much money of my own. I saved most of my money for school events but then I would also buy the teen magazines.

I got asked out on my first date a few months after I turned 16. My friend Lee (from way back in Kindergarden) asked me out to Prom. I didn't have a dress so my sister who had bought a dress told me I could wear it if she didn't get asked and she didn't so I got to wear her dress. It was a group all day date. We went with 3 other couples. My friend Leslie was in the group going with Lee's older brother, Jay. Then there was Adam and Becky and Michael and Jennifer.

We had a picnic out at the dam and did some hiking around out there during the day. Then went to our homes to get dressed. My sister helped me do my hair. Then we went over to Adam's house where his parents and little sister cooked and served us a steak dinner. I felt like a princess. The prom was held at the Elks Lodge, which I wasn't impressed with because it was in a bunch of different small rooms and smelled of stale cigarette smoke but still probably the best first date a young girl could have since I didn't have too many dates at that age.

My sister graduated from high school that year and my mom from college. I played at my sister's graduation with the band and that is the last time I played in a band.

That fall I began my junior year. Carrie and I lockered upstairs in the high school which wasn't too bad because our locker was at the very top of the stairs and also I had two different classes up there. Since I didn't have band that year I joined debate with Dinece but she already had a debate partner and no one needed a partner so I ended up just doing speeches that year. I was only in it for one trimester. I went to a speech competition and took second place....out of two contestants but I got a nice plaque.

I also took psychology. I loved that class. I learned I was a blue personality, same as my hero Abraham Lincoln. I also enjoyed History and was in the advanced class. Our history teacher spoke in a monotone voice and had a bad habit of blinking all the time. Once some one counted all the times he blinked in one minute and passed it around the class room.

Lee asked me out on my second date as well. He asked me to Homecoming. I needed a new dress since he had already taken me out in the one prom dress in the family. My mom and I went looking and we found an off shoulder dress for 75% off the already clearance price. I got that and wore the jacket from the other dress with it to keep it modest. This time it was a double date with Adam and Michelle. Another all day date. We drove up to Sunvalley stopping at the ice caves on the way there. Michelle's uncle was an architect in Sunvalley and had built Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's home there. They weren't home but we were able to see the outside and that is the closest I have ever gotten to a "celebrity" in that sense.

We went to dinner and the waitress dropped Lee's food. The dance was held at the high school in the gym. I liked it a lot better than prom because the room was huge and the balcany had tables set up for refreshments so we could sit and watch people dancing if we wanted. I really had a good time but Lee never asked me out again. We remained friends but he later told one of my friends that he didn't ask me out again because I was too shy.