When I was seventeen, I found a job as a waitress at Pizza Hut. I learned everything about the job; opening, setting up the salad bar, serving a personal pan pizza in 5 minutes, Book-It (a reading incentive program for kids), running the cash register, taking carry-out orders, and closing…the only thing I didn’t do was make the pizza itself!
There was an elderly couple that came in to Pizza Hut weekly. Once a week, they requested me as their waitress. Once a week, they shared a small, thin-crust cheese pizza, and one cup of coffee. They would set that coffee cup right in the middle of the table, and they would each take tiny sips from the cup. I would refill the cup as often as I could. They didn’t tip much, but I was always glad to see them walk through the door.
I had to do some serious reminiscing about one of my favorite activities in high school. Did I participate for one year or two? What were my tasks? How did I get involved in it in the first place? I think I finally have the details straight!
At the end of sophomore year, my English teacher asked me to be on the yearbook committee the following year. And so Junior year found me learning about layouts, captions, and photo placement. I created the spreads for our high school publications, including our school newspaper, literary magazine and yearbook.
During Senior year, I was the Index Editor. I was in charge of identifying people in various photos and including the page numbers their photo appeared on after their names in the index. This was not one of the most exciting or fun tasks, but it was vital. And sometimes it was also tricky, since I went to school with 2,000 high school kids. Because of my involvement in Yearbook, I was inducted into the Quill and Scroll Society that year.
In the spring, once again I was in the chorus of the school musical. This year, we performed Hello, Dolly! My sister and I were in the chorus together; she is in the yellow dress, I am in the pink. There was a rule about stage make-up…you can never put it on too thick!
I graduated in the top 50 of my class. As I watched graduate after graduate walk up to the stage to receive their diplomas, I marveled that I only recognized about half of the kids in my graduating class of 500.
I spent that summer working as often as I could, trying to save money for the next phase of my young life. Next week will be the last entry, and a very special entry, in this session of:
Janna of Mommy’s Piggy Tales began a project to share our youth with our children. Every Thursday, I will tell a story about my childhood as if I were telling it to my children. At the end of this project, I’ll have a collection of stories about my childhood for my children to keep, and hopefully treasure.
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