Thankful Thursday meets Flashback Friday

Er, errt. (*sound of a screeching record* - work with me here.)  Yeah, boy!  That's right.  The Oasis Ladies are having a thankful Thursday flashback.  Today, we're re-giving thanks for whatever we'd have been most thankful for the first week of September during our senior years of high school.  So buckle up and prepare to get blasted back into the 80s and 90s, as we go Back to the Future!  (Oops, I mean, back to the past.)  It's gonna be Da Bomb, Beeotch.  I mean, truly dope. You down wit that?


Yeah, I'll stop now.

A.E. (1987)

I'd be thankful for my weeks on the French Riviera. Not only did I loose weight and come home with a KILLER tan and blond highlights, I'd learned to rely more on myself. I was still a nerd (I studied French and Latin in the same year), but at least I wasn't so damn shy anymore. When you have only one year of a foreign language, and they set you loose in that country, you are an island unto yourself even if your in good company. I made friends, I learned, I tried new things, and with the help of a handsome dark haired guy, I caught that train... (long story, might be a book some day...)

I think it's safe to say that I hate you, A.E. (in a loving & caring manner). No way were my parental units cool enough to let me study abroad in high school!

Sheri (1989)

The first week of school always brought the opening of high school football season. My senior year was no different. I (shamefully not to mention publicly) am admitting that I was a cheerleader. Yes, but I was training to go to New York to dance. I was the choreographer, and that's all I cared about, all I had my sights on. Anyway, football was huge in my small mill town. Still is. Tradition told us we had to have a parade, a huge pep rally, and a massive bonfire the night before...um, yeah, and a private 'teen only' bonfire after the big game.

Sheri insists they partied like it was 1999 even though there was only a decade change going on, not the dawn of a new century.  Again, I'm jealous.

Nikki (early 1990)

Geek that I was, I would have been thankful for my schedule of AP classes and the ability to sign up for a ton of extracurricular activities - all in the hopes it would look good on my application to Princeton.

A college from which I was ultimately denied acceptance.

It's okay to be a geek (er, smart, I mean), Nikki.  We wouldn't want you any other way!

Jessie (1994)
I'd be thankful to have been elected President of S.A.A.V.E. (Students Against the AIDS Virus Everywhere), because even though I wasn't even in the new club the year before, AIDS is really bad and it sucks that  two people from my high school got it from a deranged local dentist.   (As President, I'd go on to select Sleeping Beauty as our Disney movie for homecoming and design posters for our parade car which featured hypodermic needles and the phrase "block that prick.") Ahh... my parents must've been so proud.


J.A. (1999)
Okay, well, I've racked my brain and the only thing I remember about senior year was that was the year I was pregnant with my son. So, I would have been grateful for my family. My parents stuck by me and my boyfriend, now my husband, did as well. I'd always heard that girls in that position get ignored or kicked out or whatever, but that didn't happen. They helped me as much as they could and I'll be forever grateful. While I did hide my pregnancy through out the school year (I didn't really show until almost the end, so I was able to hide my baby bump with my boyfriend's pants and large t-shirts), no one treated me any different. Which was all I wanted.

Love that you cared most about family even as a teen.  You're amazing!

What about you?  What would you have been/are you thankful for at the start of high school?