Good Ole Days, Flashback, or I Ain't as Good as I Once Was?

So today I did the same thing that I do every Thursday... go to work. But on Thursdays I don't stay at the elementary school. Midway through the day I have to go to ERHS... yes, my former High School. Now most days I just walk through the front doors and go directly to the room I do speech therapy in and just do my job and then leave, but today for some reason was different.

From the second I walked in the door today, it felt like I was back in high school again. The aroma coming from the cafeteria was the first thing I noticed... it smelled just like it did in the late 80s. I paused just for a second and then continued down the hall that now has carpet and a nice paint job, but the sound of the lockers opening and slamming shut once again just made me fondly (or not so fondly) flash back to all the stuff I crammed into the locker that I shared with Mike Kuenstler all 4 years of high school. We weren't supposed to do that ya know, but "K" names got a locker right in the middle and "R" names were always either down in Ag Hall or Home Ec Hall. We only had 4 minutes to get from class to class, so a locker in the middle was a necessity.

Instead of going to the room I usually do therapy in, I had to go upstairs. Walking up the stairs I again felt like a high schooler. I felt like I was out of class on a pass going to my locker or something. I walked back downstairs and went into the Guidance Office where I used to be a "guidance girl" and looked at the bulletin board behind the secretary's desk. So many of the past guidance workers (guys started working in there a lot more my senior year) pictures were thumbtacked behind her desk...including mine. (And my brother's picture too from a few years later.)

As I walked out to leave the school, feeling like a high schooler, a group of what I will call "farm boys" were coming in. One of them opened the door for me and said here you go ma'am. What??? Ma'am??? Hmmm.... even in my cute winter coat, sunglasses and stylish boots, I was not going to pass for a cute little high school girl anymore. My hopes of ever starring on 21 Jump Street were crushed. (The fact that I remember 21 Jump Street proves that I am no longer a cute little high school girl.) Back to reality... Back to work!