Friday, December 5, 2008

survival






after leaving the kids at mitchell park with my mom, i headed over to san luis drive for a little run. i love san luis drive for so many reasons. its a great place to run in slo because its flat, there are no streetlights, and the houses are beautiful! i like to run by and choose which one i would live in, or let my mind wander to what the people who live in them are like. i had a quite a few friends in high school who were rich enough to live there, now i know no one... except of course phyllis madonna. i've been enjoying watching the progress on her brand new palace located directly across the street from her current mansion. of course i can only praise this new construction cause it was designed by the one and only bob richmond.

so anyway the other thing i love about this infamous neighborhood is that its just a heartbeat away from my ol stomping grounds. and since i'm in contact with so few people from high school (or so i think), i thought i'd take you back to some memories from my glory days.

high school for me was so many things. all in all, it was a successful 4 years--aside from a few common blunders..
as a 95 lb sophomore taking 9 shots of southern comfort before the homecoming dance to 'take the edge off' i somehow found myself in the principle's office shouting obscenities. needless to say i was extremely humbled and actually didn't drink for a whole year after the fiasco (can someone please get me a medal). somehow even after i took up the ol bottle again (strictly in a casual sense) i was able to secure my first real boyfriend. i quickly plunged into the existential emotional chaos of first love... as painful and wonderful as it was somehow i was able to overcome my reputation as a complete lush and rock the title of slo high class of 97 homecoming queen. i know what a turn-around!!! they don't call me the come back kid for nuthin!


in all seriousness, i truly believe high school is hard for all of us. despite my friends, and hangin with the "in" crowd, i totally struggled with the day to day. the drama of my friends, the clothes i wore, worrying bout my boyf cheating, playing good basketball... the list goes on and is different for all of us.
so when i was running by the high school and saw all the kids walking back from 7-11 and franks, i wasn't surprised when i saw an overweight girl walking by herself eating a sandwich. when i ran by her i saw headed in the other direction a group of guys. i desperately wanted to slow down and walk by with her to ensure the boys didn't say anything mean to her, but i just kept on. i couldn't get her out of my head as i ran on. i tried to reassure myself that she did have friends and she was happy and she loved high school.. and as i ran and tried to will friends to her, all of the sudden pumping out of my ipod came.. "SHOT THROUGH THE HEART AND YOUR TO LATE, DARLIN YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME!" and suddenly i felt this surge- like i could conquer the world and so could she!! she's probably wicked smart and gonna go to yale or somethin and be the most popular girl in the world!! not really, but what i realized is that even if you don't have the friends or the clothes, you probably have something- and maybe, just maybe its bon jovi that gets you through the day.
so i'm super curious to know---what got you through high school???