Senior Year: All State Band, Fun with Friends, and Europe!

I can't believe this is my 2nd to last post for my Mommy's Piggy Tales project! Come relive 1994-95 with me as I reminisce about my senior year:


Senior year started off very rough. My grandpa (Mom's Dad) passed away right before school started. Mom spent 2 weeks in Orlando while we stayed home with Dad. Starting school, senior pictures, working, and carpooling my sister all over the place was hard, but we made it. Once Mom got home, things settled right back to normal...whew!

I was so excited to finally be a senior! Preferred parking in the parking lot, leaving campus for lunch, and just ruling the roost were enough for me. The only thing that made my brain cramp was Physics class 1st period. UGH!

This is my best friend Destin and me. We became good friends the end of 10th grade and as Forrest Gump would say, we were like "peas & carrots". We did everything together and he was a fantastic friend. He played trumpet in the band and didn't live too far from my house, so we hung out a lot. He did plenty to drive me up a wall, but overall, I wouldn't have traded our friendship for anything.

Prom 1995. Destin and I were fighting so I went to prom with someone else. I had been to Junior prom with Destin. Robby and I had a wonderful time until one of our good friends had to be rushed to the hospital. We spent the end of prom with he and his date.

Oh, the Glamour Shots. My friend Summer and I decided to go to the mall in Tallahassee and have these done. I have never had so much makeup caked on my face in my life! I love how the pictures came out, but we looked like streetwalkers when we left that store. This was my favorite pose.
Oh, and remember those Guess overalls from 8th grade that my mom said I better wear my senior year? Well, I actually did! I still could fit into them and proudly wore them just to show her!

Here's the crew: Heath, Destin, Summer and me. We were all such great friends. I miss these days. This was taken at Magic Kingdom for Grad Nite. Now, when I look back at the program for all the entertainment that was there in 1995, NONE of the musical groups exist anymore. I must be getting old! We had so much fun this night except fort he fact that we had to be dressed up. I mean COME ON, who wears dress shoes to Disney World?? Summer and I had to make frequent band-aid stops throughout the night. It was a great night and it was good to be back in Orlando, at least for a little bit.

Summer and I took off to Orlando together on Spring Break. My aunt & uncle let us stay in their house since they were gone on vacation. My mom, sister, and friend Kelli would join us the next day. We all came down for the Boyz II Men concert. Summer and I attemped to go out with some friends of mine that Friday night, but blew a tire. Thank goodness for family in town. My cousin came to our rescue. We spent the next day at the tire shop. We did get to go out to UCF and check things out though. We were so excited to actually be going to college! We hung out at the mall that weekend and just enjoyed being 18. Oh, how simple things were.

Mom and me on graduation night. I graduated Magna Cum Laude June 9, 1995. All of my Orlando family came up for the big event. We had a party at my house after the ceremony and then it was time for Project Graduation! OH was that fun! I actually won a VCR and a cooler. I gave the VCR to my parents since I had one already. Theirs was about to give up playing. I remember having my name called and walking across that stage in our gymnatorium. I couldn't believe I was finally done with high school. It wasn't really bittersweet for me. I mean, yes, I would miss my friends that I had made, but I was SO ready to leave Perry and get back to Orlando. I never wanted to leave O-town in the first place. See, I got accepted to the University of Central Florida, along with Summer. I was headed HOME!!!

One really neat thing that happened in January of my senior year was that I made it to All-State Honor Band. They needed a bass clarinet player, and while I played regular B flat clarinet, bass wasn't all that hard either. This is me at my audition. My band director, my mom, and me, heade to Tampa for the weekend. Somewhere around here, I have the cassette tape of our concert. It was a really fun experience. I miss playing music and being part of a group.

Me, Laura, and Kelli. This is at our spring concert. We performed "Clarinet Trio in C" for the state Sole & Ensemble Festival and made Superior! We performed it here at our local concert too. These girls were great friends. We really enjoyed playing together. I stuck band out all 4 years of high school despite having ANOTHER new band director this year. I didn't make drum major again. The old director decided to let the band vote at tryouts instead of having areal tryout with real judges. I knew I was doomed from the start. It was so unfair. I was GOOD and felt I was denied a fair tryout. Oh well, I had a great senior year anyway being 1st chair clarinet.

Me at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Netherlands

The highlight of my life came after graduation. I got to go to Europe for the first time! A group of kids from my high school got together with a retired teacher and put together this trip. Destin and I had already decided to go on the Senior Cruise so we lost our deposit once we found out about this trip. I didn't care though. I wouldn't have traded this European vacation for all the cruises in the world.

We went to the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, & England in 2 weeks. It was a super fast trip, but incredible. I learned invaluable lessons about different cultures and lifestyles. I actually kissed the airport floor in Detroit after we got back to the USA. It really made me thankful for all we have here in America.

When we got back from the trip, I remember counting that I had 20 days left in Perry. Then it was off to UCF!! I worked McDonald's and they gave me quite the send-off on my last day, but NEVER did hit me with those buckets of water!!! I was too quick ;-)

I was ready for my new adventures and to get back to the city I loved so dearly all those years ago.