Feeling Nostalgic

Maybe it's because Christmas is coming, maybe it's because I have too much time to think and too little time to talk to people, I don't know, but I have been very nostalgic lately.

Sunday night my sisters and I watched two of my favorite childhood movies: Fievel Goes West and The Rogue Stallion. If you don't know, Fievel Goes West is a sequel to the 80's Steven Speilberg cartoon, An American Tale-which is a classic. This sequel is really cheesy, and I don't care so much for it now.

But Rogue Stallion....beautiful! I wonder if I can find it on DVD? I love that movie.

Anyway, I've actually been feeling even more nostalgic about the things I was involved in during Jr. High and High School. Yes, I definitely had the drama, immaturity, and general ridiculousness in my teen years that I am so glad is behind me. But I also had some great experiences. And I just want to shout out to my friends that were there with me.

Leadership For Greatness: Remember this awesome club? Our crazy speeches and debates we had to do, the service we were involved in, the event planning, dancing, competing in the Shakespeare Competition, discussing books and articles, thinking about how we could better ourselves and the world...this group made a huge impact on me. There are so many friends I made there that I don't talk to much anymore, but I will always hold them in high esteem.

Choir: This is where I first learned to hug my friends. Sounds wierd, but I was 13, shy and though I knew how to be myself, I didn't know how to do that while actually interacting with others. Choir used to be the highlight of my week. we all did so many crazy things, before, during and after practice. In conjunction with that, when I was 14, I was cast as the lead in the Pirates of Penzance. That was a big deal for me. It kind of still is, actually. A lot of people don't want to admit how being involved in musical theatre as a teen impacted them and that is was really exciting for them, but hey, it was awesome. I had a pretty great group of friends.

Clogging: I had a great team. A lot of other dance teams had drama going on between them, but my team was so chill. Competitions were so fun.

Art class: This was my secret refuge. While there was all sorts of craziness going on in chior, LFG, and dance, this was such a completely different environment. We all just sat there, quietly drawing, talking, and joking in my art teacher's awesome studio, while interesting music or books on CD played in the background. Zach, remember all the wierd jokes we made up? And remember those hyper girls that always sang the words "paint your hair"? I remember that kid that drew a picture of the band Nirvana, and I remember all the random discussions about metaphysics, and "crystal children", and the beauty of nature. I miss that. Sometimes I think I should just get a group of friends to draw or color with me every week to see if we can get amazing conversations like that going again.

Babysitting: This was my other secret refuge. I babysat this great family in my ward, Connor, Emmy, and eventually Simon. I had funnier inside jokes with these kids than I did with my friends! This family introduced me to some of my favorite things. We did all sorts of fun things; playing sonic and monkeyball until our brains were completely over-stimuated, playing music and having mini dance parties, Emmy and I giving each other glitter-tastic makeovers, watching Studio Ghibli movies, Otter-Pops and Oreos, and overly-buttered popcorn to the max, those giant blocks that we built a castle with, playing piano for each other, and making sure nothing got destroyed when oreo and otterpop induced frenzies came on. I loved it. This was THE place to be silly make all those hilarious jokes that wouldn't appeal all my "cool" teenage friends. Connor and Emmy, thanks. I don't know if you will ever know how great those times were for me.

And then there was going to all the dances, the group games, "ghost in the graveyard", playing on the rope swing, walking to the park and looking at everything on the way, sleepovers, walking more places-it was just fun to walk around and see everything.
Thanks friends, for making me not completely hate being a teenager. And a special thanks to those that are still with me, looking forward to more exploration, more joking around, and more mind-blowing conversations.