4/365

Rob coaches wrestling at a local high school and tonight they were wrestling against their rival so Brendan and I decided to go up to the school and watch.....even though I had Bunco tonight and I REALLY wanted to go, I felt I needed to be a good wife and go to the match to show my support and I am glad I did! :) We had a good time and the guys wrestled great and yes, the team as a whole won.

While I was sitting in the stands, dividing my time between playing trucks with Brendan and watching the guys wrestle, I started to think back to when I was in school...8 1/2 years ago! The first thing that came to mind was WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!?! It wasn't that I caused a lot of trouble in high school, it was that education was my last priority and my social life was by far my first. Of course having friends/boyfriend is important to most high school students, I think I took it to the extreme. As I saw the dancers and cheerleaders, I remembered back to my sophmore year when I tried out for the varsity dance team. At the time, I was 15 years old and had probably been dancing for the past 8 or 9 years. I LOVED dancing! Well, tryouts came and went and....I didn't make the team! I was DEVASTATED...hey, I still vividly remember it 12 years later! Dancing was my passion and I didn't make the team. Come to find out, the reason I didn't make the team was because I didn't get enough teacher recommendations! You have to get so many recommendations and I didn't get enough. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't get any. I actually found this out from one of my teachers. At 15 years of age my priorities, or lack thereof, really made me loose the chance to do something I loved. Instead of improving and getting the recs. for the following year, I continued to put my social life/poor behavior first and in turn, didn't get recs.

Rob and I recently started going to a new church (which we love) and several teachers that I had in high school also attend church there. I was so embarrassed when I saw my old teachers for the 1st time. I was embarrassed of how I acted back then and what they probably thought of me. There is one woman in particular who goes to my church, who I have alot of respect for as an educator. She was my teacher many years ago and I remember sleeping in her class, turning in work late, or just not turning it in at all, showing up to class late, and interrupting her class. I'm sure she was so happy when that semester ended! I can't remember one book that I read in high school and now I would LOVE the chance to read a book. I was so immature, obnoxious, and lazy back then. That may sound harsh but as an adult looking back, it is true! I will (hopefully) soon have my degree in Elem. Ed. and even though I will be teaching the younger children, I still think about what I would think if I had a student like myself. When I was doing observations for college I observed a class at my old high school and the asst. principal, who was also the disciplinary principal, was the one who showed me to the class that I would be observing. As he was walking me to the class, he said, "you sure were in my office alot when you were in school, weren't you?" I could not believe it! Eight years later and that is how he remembers me. I was so embarrassed. Thank goodness I won't be applying for a job there! :) I could sweet talk my way out of just about anything but like my Mom would say, "if I spent as much time on my school work as I spent on trying to come up with excuses, I would have had a full ride to an Ivy league school." Ha ha! It's not that I couldn't do the work, I just chose not to do it.

So, in conclusion, I had a great 4 years of highschool but I sure do wish I would have made better decisions. Even though I acted the way I did back then, my life turned out great but I sure do pray Brendan takes after Rob when it comes to book smarts. I wish I would have realized how important education is, especially when you are 16. I enjoy school now and sure wish I would have back then as well! If Brendan even thinks of acting the way I did in high school that little boy will be in for a world of hurt! :)