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:

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Being a junior in high school was so exciting for so many different reasons. I was asked out on my first date. I got my driver’s license. I auditioned for the school musical Brigadoon and made it into the chorus. What a wonderfully eventful year!

One of the cute boys in my youth group at church was a year older than me, and I thought he was so funny. I was so excited when he asked me out to a movie! We saw a couple of movies together; Better Off Dead with a young John Cusack, and Enemy Mine, an awesome scifi flick with Dennis Quaid. My heart went all thumpity-thumpity when he kissed me on the cheek one night. That first beau of mine went on to college, and now lives back in the suburbs where we grew up together. He married a wonderful woman who soon became a friend, and I taught their little boy in Sunday School.

Back to junior year: It took me a while to get the courage up to take my driver’s license test. When my mom finally dragged me to the DMV, I passed my test the first time. Phew! My parents let me occasionally borrow the car to go out with my friends on the weekends. Curfew was midnight; however, if I called my parents, they were willing to let me stay out ’til one!

I was thrilled to be a part of Brigadoon. The whole setting was so mysterious. Brigadoon is a Scottish village that appears for only one day every one hundred years; however, to the villagers, the passage of a century appears to be only one night. Two American tourists stumble upon this village, and their arrival causes chaos. The music, the storyline, the acting…was all so much fun!

Last week, I hinted at another activity I would become a part of during my high school years. Since high school was, well, quite a few years ago, I remembered that this activity took place Senior year! Only two weeks remain in this 15 week project called: