Middle School and Me

My family lived in Brasil when I was in middle school.  We moved there when I was 10, and moved back to the United States when I was 14.  I was one person when we moved there, and I was an entirely different person when we moved back.  Pretty much an improvement all around, in my opinion.  I give most of the credit for these changes to the friends that I made while we lived there.

A week or so ago I was driving somewhere as school was letting out across Lincoln.  There was a group of middle school kids walking home and I watched them as I drove down the street.  I say group but they were spread out, in pairs, across a distance the length of a soccer field or so.  They would turn around and yell something at each other, having a sort of loud long distance conversation.

The way they walked, this awkward method of communicating with each other, the boy/girl scene, their clothes, even their hair all brought back so many memories of my own middle school days.

Ah, middle school.  The thing about middle school for me is that I did all three years of it in a different country, at a private school, and had no idea really how lucky I was.

I really began to miss those people that filled my days back then.  I tried to find pictures, and thought I had more, but this was all I could find.  There are a few pictures that I am really sad I couldn't find, so maybe I'll look again another day.

Until then, to the people in these photos and to the people in the photos I couldn't find, thanks for being a good friend to little, weird, silly middle school me.

You have no idea the impact you've had on my life over the years.

 At a sleepover. 
I still have that sweatshirt. 
Heather loves when I wear it, 
 because it has Mickey Mouse on it.

 Here I am, this is maybe 8th grade?

 This was my best friend, Elise, before we moved to Brasil.  We got to visit with them one summer, I think maybe I was in seventh grade?  I am the one all the way on the left, with the really bad looking perm.  Getting that perm was one of the worst choices I've made in my life.

Erika and Ivana

 
Carolina and Christen

This was my senior year of high school, Daniella and Christen came and surprised me with a visit.
I came out of school, and they were just there, on my car.
One of the top five best surprises of my life.

Comments

  1. Alisha ErinMarch 12, 2014 at 9:37 PM

    Now we need to know about the other four best surprises.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 12, 2014 at 9:59 PM

    This made me go look for pictures from back then. ..lots of bad perms, big glasses, and shy smiles but we owned it! We had such a great time together growing into awkward tweens. We need to try to catch up sonetime when we may be passing through each others states!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Carolina (@braziliancakes)March 13, 2014 at 9:09 AM

    Awww, I remember those days! I have pictures, will find them and send them to you. Also, love reading your blog and seeing beautiful pics of your kids. Xoxoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mimi CollettMarch 13, 2014 at 5:03 PM

    Oh, those were some good times. And oh man, perms. :) You did have some awesome friends, and while they changed you, you also changed them for the better, too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ThanksGIVEaway

Image
This giveaway is now CLOSED. In a week we will find ourselves feasting with family and friends.  We will reflect on and share with each other the good things in life that we are grateful for.  And I think that's great, to give thanks. My heart lately though has been leaning in a slightly different direction, I've felt an emphasis on a different part of the name of next week's holiday.  My heart is filled with gratitude to people who have reached out in love, sympathy, and support when they see others in need..  Those who have voiced prayers, and kind thoughts and words on our behalf, and on behalf of people seeking comfort everywhere.  The people who have watched children, sent flowers, made meals, and done so much more to try and ease burdens.  And my thankful heart wants to GIVE back to these people, as a small way of saying Thank You. So today I present you with my ThanksGIVEaway.  You know those big fancy blogs that are sponsored by corporations and have big fanc
Read more

Come Take a Tour

Image
This is the longest post of all time, but that's because of all the pictures. So I know I shouldn't let myself get carried away since we still have the inspection to go, but... I feel like we've won half the battle, so I will show you pictures now. This backyard is one of the  main reasons I wanted this house.  It is on a corner lot, and it is really quite large.  It extends just as far off to the left.  Here you can sort of see the nice swingset we've inherited also, which Hallie will love as it has swings and a slide. This is the playhouse in the backyard.  It's about nine square feet inside, and has electrical set up and in the spring/summer you can tell it is landscaped.  My girls will be a little spoiled. This is the first thing you see when you walk in the house, aside from the stairs which you can barely see in the left corner.  It is a formal dining, but we may use it as a formal sitting room. This is the front door, with the stairs leading up (
Read more

Well, That Was Unexpected

I think it all really started on Monday afternoon.  My mother and I were talking about movies that we would like to see in the movie theater.  When my mom learned that my girls had not seen Frozen yet, she decided that was something we needed to do.  I looked up show times, and saw that Tuesdays are $5 movie days with free popcorn and the theater is right by my midwife's office.  The only showing we could go to was just after my appointment with her, and everything seemed to be falling into place just perfectly. We had a plan.  We were so excited about our movie date with the girls. But things don't always go according to plan, do they? Hanna got sick that night, and spent all day Tuesday asleep on the couch.  It seemed that our perfect plan was not going to happen. Little did I know that there were going to be far greater reasons for us to miss that movie. There we were, Tuesday afternoon, Hanna asleep on the couch, Heather asleep in her crib, my Grandpa knitting me
Read more