This was Week Three… High School Never Ends
Late Friday morning, I get a text from my younger sister:
You guys want to go to the football game tonight?
My sister had started her senior year of high school three weeks ago. It really boggles my mind that my baby sister is on the edge of eighteen and in her final year of grade school. Earlier this year I realized that seven years ago, I started my senior year of high school. It’s been TEN years ago since I started high school altogether. Either way, it makes me feel really old. And I haven’t turned 25 yet.
Since the academic year has started, I’ve actually been taking an active role in her schooling. From printing out her English papers to coaching her for Drama to figuring out how to work out Physic equations. And when the invitation for the football game came up, I figured “Why not?” It’s more games than I ever attended when I was in high school (which equal to zero).
I know why she had wanted to go, too. Not because of the team, but the food. Particularly the “Band Potato”. As you could have guessed, the Band Potato are baked potatoes made to fund for the band members. After a long week, that potato was no lie, comfort food. As a side note, seeing the half-time show, I forgot how much I loved watching field shows and the Tournament of Bands (my older sister was involved in Color Guard when she was in high school).
The experience was all around great. The food, chatting with my sister’s friends, and I even paid attention to the game somewhat. I hear my sister’s stories about how the team usually loses, but this time, Varsity won! However, JV lost.
Afterwards, my sister gave a little tour of the school. I wouldn’t say there were any huge changes made to the school since I’ve attended school there (or even when I visited last year for various events during my sister’s junior year). In fact, there were small changes made to the school. Yet at the same time, there were a LOT of small changes! The kinds of murals put up, the rearranging of portables, and certain portables being replaced by actual buildings.
Thinking about changes, I asked my sister during the Junior Varsity team, “What year were the freshman born in? If it’s 1999, then I’m going to cry.” She wasn’t sure, so she asked a friend.
Answer? “I think it’s 1999.”
I faked a sob. ”There are KIDS on that team,” I point to the tiny football players from down below, “that weren’t even alive when A Bug’s Life came out!”
Thinking more about changes, with a good amount of time has past between my senior year and my sister’s senior year, I wondered who could be the most random person I could run into that night. Then I saw someone who I took a college course with about two years ago. After that class, he had transfered to a local university, and started working at a recycled bookstore that I happen to visit frequently. Upon running into each other there, he mentioned how he was teaching English at a high school.
We waved “hi” to each other as we past each other, but honestly I was a little confused. The college and the high school are only a few miles apart, but what were the chances that I would still run into him there? After mentioning to my sister about the class we took together a couple years back, she responded, “Oh, he’s a teacher here.”
Well, I got my answer. Most random encounter.
Going back to high school is something I never thought I would do. But in this way, I don’t really mind it.
