Back to the future.

 

I know that I still have a lot of outstanding business from Christmas, but we all know how I love to procrastinate when I have a bazillion photos to go through and edit. But I promise to wrap up Christmas before 2012 comes to a close. Scout's honor!



Plus, today was kind of special. Today we had a unique opportunity to tour our old high school. The school district built a beautiful new school, so it was time to say good bye to the old building, which will be demolished to make way for the new elementary school.

 

It was a surreal experience. So much was the same - the frosted windows on the classroom doors, the tile hallways, the stairwells. Nonetheless, in spite of the newly painted lockers and the addition of a salad bar in the cafeteria, it was difficult to ignore how the passage of time made everything look so worn and hard used. The desks above are in the classroom where I spend my senior year in AP English. In fact, I sat right there in the second row. So many of my very good friends were in that class. Our teacher, Ms. Bowman, was one of the absolute best too. I read so many of the classics that year. Everything from Sophocles to Shakespeare to Joyce. *sigh* I used to be so smart before real life dumbed me down.

 

Here's something that was exactly the same. The VIP Award case. When you were nominated by a teacher, you got to put whatever personal and academic memorabilia you wanted on display. I was a VIP during my sophomore year.







Of course, the gym was a must see. I met up with some old high school friends there, which just added to the experience.





The auditorium. Throughout high school, I was very involved in theater. When I walked through the entrance of the auditorium, this wave of emotion washed over me that I never would have expected. All those forgotten feelings and memories came rushing back. It was so overwhelming that I started to tear up. Mark just rolled his eyes at me.

 

And here I am, all grown up. I still have dreams of being in high school. I'm always in a panic because I can't remember my locker combination and I'm late for a class where we're having a test that I didn't study for. I guess no matter how much you grow and change, you never really leave those days completely behind.

We did get a chance to tour the new school as well, but I didn't take any photos. Suffice to say that it is like a palace inside. The highlight for me was not the spectacular new auditorium or the modern cafeteria, but the art classrooms on separate floors that have a spiral staircase that connects them. Teenage Melissa would have absolutely loved that.