I was reading an article today while I waited for my haircut. One thing that struck me was how many times I have heard people say that the high school years are the best years of our lives.
For me, I find that to be pretty much true. I had a lot of buddies. We grew up through jr. high (shows how old I am ....hard for me, even today, to say middle school...and Angie teaches at one) ...anyway....My buddies and I would find something to do all the time. Although I worked after school a lot of days and most week-ends, I found time to hang out with them. We played a lot of basketball, baseball and football up at the park. We snuck cigarettes down at the gas station. Probably the most fun was learning to drive and doing "drive by's" by all the pretty girl's houses....hoping to see them...but hoping they didn't see us
I usually had a girl friend. My steady girl, from late junior year until several years later, was a very special one. We had so much fun together ....shared a lot of tears too.... We rode matching 10 speed bikes after prom way into the night....wore matching sweat shirts when she came and worked with me doing drywall on Saturday's....played many card games...concerts....dinners....Mary Tyler Moore show....many good memories...
Looking back I don't know if my best memories are from high school....nah...my kids and Angie are....but I will say it was a great time in my life...
God no. I grew up in a podunky redneck town. I had my group of friends but I was itching and scratching to get away from about age 12 on. I'd say college years, in particular Jr year through grad school were by and far the best. Didn't hurt I lived right on the beach those years either
College years and immediately following were the best years for me. My high school was huge and getting to your locker and class on time was stressful. I still have occasional nightmares about dealing with that. I also had a falling out with my best friend my senior year that we never patched up. Didn't have a real steady boyfriend in high school. I can also remember detasseling corn every summer (a job from He11). Yeah, college was definitely a much better experience for me.
Though in some ways, times were tough - being raised by a single mom in the 70s wasn't the same as it is now - they were happy years. I was shy and chubby, but I had friends.I was a French horn playing "nerd". I was on the debate team and in forensics. AND - I started dating DH my senior year (we were married when I graduated from college - 1978)
Overall - I have very happy memories I guess I'm an optimist, because I always thing that "now" is the best season of my life.
Last edited by CountingDown; 03-07-2009 at 08:09 PM.
College for sure and several years after.No money......much more creative because of that.Back then everything I owned fit in 2 suitcases.Life was so much more simple.Those were the days..........
I LOVED high school. It was such a great time. I had a lot of friends and did a lot of fun stuff. We were so carefree and all we had to think about was having a good time. It definitely was a much simpler time (I graduated in 1982), so that might have had a lot to do with it. But, we all worked at the same place, a tourist attraction, so even working was fun.
Although life is good now and I love my family and work, it was just so easy and stressfree back then. Mom and Dad took care of everything. All I had to do was think about school, friends, and what was going on that week.
I've told my Mom that I would like to go back, even just for a week! ha!
ugh. i hated most of high school. especially my junior year when my "best friend" told me that the world would be better off if i killed myself. yeah. good times.
then senior year, i thought i was a lesbian, and my conservative, Republican classmates weren't very keen on that.
now i know that i'm bisexual, and i live in a much more liberal college town. i wouldn't go back if you paid me.
I think HS had the potential to be amazing. Unfortunately, because I had such a horrific homelife in so many ways, I spent my time trying to cover that up and feeling ashamed. I was just so very alone I felt. The best days of my life have been thus far, the ones as a mom quite honestly. After a decade of marriage, I decided to have children and voila, here I am!
I really hope the best days of my life are yet to come.
Last edited by Thighs Be Gone; 03-08-2009 at 05:58 PM.
funny that you read high school is often thought of as the best years of your life... for me that's been the case thus far, BUT i've always heard that college was the "best years" (definitely NOT the case for me, I was miserable in college).
I had a lot of fun in high school, and a lot of friends... I did theater and music and boy do I wish I'd known then how great things were and how much I should have treasured them! Cos you can't go back...
I did NOT have a good time in high school. I much preferred my early 20's, but you know, the mid-to-late 20's are doing pretty well for me so far, too.
I won't say high school was a complete nightmare, but those years definitely were NOT my best. College was a lot more fun, and I miss some of it. Graduate school was even better. In terms of my career, I loved the years that I was working as a probation officer and teaching college (I loved what I was doing, even though I was working all of the time, and was working myself ragged). And later, meeting my husband was pretty stellar too.
I guess I think our (my husband's and my) life (despite the health and financial issues we're going through currently) is continuing to get better and better. I mean parts are sort of sucky, but the good parts that really matter are growing and developing and making us who we are.
Lots of ups and downs. Can't say it was the worst of times- that would be middle school. I had a lot of fun, a lot of good friends, lots of boyfriends, I did my entire lifes worth of partying, I might have learned a few things... I would say it was 50% good and 50% terrible. You know- like adolescence.
I had fun during the high school years with my friends, but HAAAATED my high school. It was SO ghetto! I'm talking we had a sniper on the roof on our last day my freshman year, one of our football coaches paid two of his players to jump an annoying kid, having to go through metal detectors as we walked into school in the morning, being subjected to random drug and weapon searches....I could go on and on!
I miss my friends and our good times outside of the school walls...but other than that, I would never want to go back in time and do it over again!
Short answer: HIGH SCHOOL SUCKED!!! I'm 49 and have never been one to be nostalgic about any time or place....the best time, is always now, IMO, although HS can be brutal especially if you go to one where everyone but you has money & connections.
I really don't think they should go around telling kids "this is the best time of your life." Ugh! If I would have thought that then I would have done myself in.
Tell Me About HIGH SCHOOL
....hard for me, even today, to say middle school...and Angie teaches at one) ...anyway....My buddies and I would find something to do all the time. Although I worked after school a lot of days and most week-ends, I found time to hang out with them. We played a lot of basketball, baseball and football up at the park. We snuck cigarettes down at the gas station. Probably the most fun was learning to drive and doing "drive by's" by all the pretty girl's houses....hoping to see them...but hoping they didn't see us 
....shared a lot of tears 
too.... We rode matching 10 speed bikes after prom way into the night....wore matching sweat shirts when she came and worked with me doing drywall on Saturday's....played many card games...concerts....dinners....Mary Tyler Moore show....many good memories...
(we were married when I graduated from college - 1978)
