{"id":157,"date":"2011-06-05T19:06:04","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T03:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/?p=157"},"modified":"2011-06-05T19:12:47","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T03:12:47","slug":"senior-pictures-pictures-of-seniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/senior-pictures-pictures-of-seniors\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Pictures, Pictures of Seniors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summertime! Water fun, weddings, backyard cookouts, trips to the mountains, fireflies, even noctilucent clouds (which you can find out about at www.spaceweather.com<\/a>). And graduation<\/strong>, which means U.S. high schools and colleges putting gazillions of seniors out on the streets.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the season for one of America\u2019s great pastimes \u2013 no, not baseball. Reunions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"AHS<\/a><\/p>\n

Reunions come in all kinds, sizes, and shapes — like school classes, families, all kinds of military gatherings including fighter pilot aces, athletes celebrating a special win. Name a meaningful past event or cohorts; people will get together<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Reunions are also big business in America<\/strong> and generate tons of summertime spending; I\u2019ll do my part in a few days to stimulate the economy by contributing more than my share to this business segment.<\/p>\n

Yet, there\u2019s a major reason to go, a reason based on some little-known research<\/strong>. That secret will be revealed at the end of the post.<\/span><\/p>\n

AHS Senior Class of \u201861<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"AHS<\/a><\/p>\n

I first heard the silly joke, \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between senior pictures and pictures of seniors?\u201d when my father told me he was going to his 50th<\/sup> high school reunion<\/strong>. I thought it was way over the top<\/strong> back then. (The answer to that stupid joke will be at the bottom of this post.)<\/p>\n

Some people would rather be shot at dawn than have to attend their class reunion.<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m risking it all and going to mine. In Anchorage. That\u2019s Anchorage, Alaska.<\/strong> By way of the Inside Passage <\/strong>on Royal Caribbean\u2019s Radiance of the Seas, a cruise put together by a few classmates. There will be about 30-plus of us on board. I haven\u2019t seen these classmates in 20 years, since our 30th<\/sup> reunion.<\/p>\n

I leave Thursday to get on board.<\/span> I\u2019ve sent my money in. If I drop dead before next Thursday, well, I won\u2019t live to regret it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We will join lots of other classmates Friday, June 17, at (West) Anchorage High School, to begin our 50th<\/sup> Reunion<\/strong>. Over the top, alright.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had a lot of fun working on this Reunion<\/a> for two years, some of us communicating electronically with the core committee in Anchorage. The work shows in the Web page, at www.ahs61.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A few days ago with a temperature here in Tuscaloosa at 101 degrees and my AC merely chugging along, I went to Belk to continue my spending by getting a few things. I couldn\u2019t find them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are the socks?\u201d I asked a couple of salespeople.<\/p>\n

They were speechless, looking at me like I was a mental case. \u201cI\u2019m going to Alaska!\u201d I added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh! They\u2019re over there,\u201d they replied.<\/p>\n

Gravity Happens<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why — looking like I look, missing all the opportunities for success I\u2019ve missed, feeling totally inferior, not remembering stuff I should remember, having just had \u201cprocedures\u201d I don\u2019t want to discuss \u2013 why would I put myself through a REUNION<\/strong>? Yes, there\u2019s that secret reason to be revealed at the end. But what about the CONCERNS?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my take on the CONCERNS<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Many had a tough time in high school. Here\u2019s what I say to that: Who didn\u2019t? We were teenagers. Give me a teenager who didn\u2019t have a tough time and I\u2019ll give you a corpse.<\/strong> Teenagers and psychopaths and sociopaths probably share many personality traits.<\/p>\n

Many grownups still feel the sting of real or perceived affronts to their esteem. Here\u2019s what I say to that: Who doesn\u2019t? And let me say right here: If I committed an affront to any of my high school peers, I am most sorry for it. My excuse is that like everyone in high school, I was insane<\/strong> and busy dealing with the affronts aimed at me.<\/p>\n

Regarding having suffered from an inferiority complex. Ha! This is what I say to that: I still am. Descartes should have said, \u201cI feel inferior; therefore, I am.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many seniors don\u2019t recognize the person in the mirror<\/strong>. I don\u2019t, and I\u2019m sure no one will recognize me. It\u2019s all about gravity, pounds, bad hair color, baldness, wrinkles, dysfunctional knees and sexual prowess, bags, walkers, and whatever else we\u2019ve added to our lives. Here\u2019s what I say to that: It\u2019s true. Most people won\u2019t recognize you<\/strong> anymore than you\u2019ll recognize them.<\/p>\n

Get over it; the name tags will be HUGE<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Some will fear scorn<\/strong> for their fuzzy or no \u201caccomplishments.\u201d Here\u2019s what I say to that: As long as we\u2019re breathing, we\u2019ll all continue to have to re-start our lives<\/strong> \u2013 for the zillionth time. I just had to re-start mine three years ago when my husband (miraculously, of 40 years) and I petitioned for and adopted our 18-month-old granddaughter.<\/p>\n

We ALL remember envying other classmates\u2019 looks, brains, boobs or other endowments, status in the \u201cin crowd,\u201d athletic heroics, scores on the SAT test, and a zillion other things. Here\u2019s what I say to that: I envied Teresa Hanson\u2019s pink Ford Victoria convertible<\/strong>. And Ginger Harris\u2019s confidence<\/strong>. And Tom Kelly\u2019s SAT scores<\/strong>. There, I\u2019ve said it. But I\u2019m going to attend anyway.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No Regrets<\/strong><\/p>\n

So we will come together for our 50th<\/sup> high school reunion \u2013 because we CAN<\/strong>. We\u2019ve been given the gift of surviving long enough<\/strong> to have this opportunity. Seeing noctilucent clouds<\/a> will just be gravy.<\/p>\n

Those who will see their close friends, those who didn\u2019t know each other, those who only knew each other as acquaintances \u2013 we all share this singular opportunity. All of us shared that one moment when the AHS door opened graduation night <\/strong>for us to begin our journey to adulthood. We all helped each other get to that point, for good or ill.<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/a><\/p>\n

The AHS Senior Class Prom, 1961. Both the King and Queen, sitting in the chairs, will be at our 50th High School Reunion.<\/span><\/p>\n

And finally, the main reason, a best kept secret revealed in a New York Times<\/a> piece two years ago:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, the role of friendship in our lives isn\u2019t terribly well appreciated,\u201d said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology at the <\/span>University of North Carolina<\/span><\/a>, Greensboro. \u201cThere is just scads of stuff on families and marriage, but very little on friendship. It baffles me. Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well-being than family relationships.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

ANSWER <\/strong>TO THE OPENING QUESTION:<\/p>\n

As far as we, the AHS Class of \u201961, are concerned, there\u2019s NO DIFFERENCE between senior pictures and pictures of seniors<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summertime! Water fun, weddings, backyard cookouts, trips to the mountains, fireflies, even noctilucent clouds (which you can find out about at www.spaceweather.com). And graduation, which means U.S. high schools and colleges putting gazillions of seniors out on the streets. It\u2019s also the season for one of America\u2019s great pastimes \u2013 no, not baseball. Reunions. Reunions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memories","category-photos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions\/160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahs61.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}