tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post5211372160847962203..comments2024-03-22T05:18:29.555-04:00Comments on Romance Bandits: High School and Other Painful PursuitsLoucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02217492654108300014noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-27726263220015869042007-08-04T22:04:00.000-04:002007-08-04T22:04:00.000-04:00I was nothing as listed above. My mother called me...I was nothing as listed above. My mother called me a "tall beautiful late bloomer". Perhaps, but I was not the jock, or the cheerleader, nor the class Validictorian (just look at my spelling). I followed in footsteps from cheerleaders, dancers, beautiful singers, artists, class presidents, and Homecoming Queen. Even though my feet are large at 10', they couldn't quite fill those steps that preceded me. I did however have a love from my father that I will never forget. Not being the best in high school was just fine by me. I had a love from a daddy that will last forever!meganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05016838198191548483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-83220695085204018652007-07-31T13:25:00.000-04:002007-07-31T13:25:00.000-04:00From Shannon: Your blog was so good! And of cour...From Shannon: Your blog was so good! And of course I LOVE the picture of your favorite granddaughter (hee hee... MY child of course). <BR/><BR/>I, myself, was a choir and drill team geek in High School but still relatively popular... not the popular invited to all the parties sort but the "oh I know who Shannon Roberston is" because I sang solos in our HS talent shows and at pep rallies and stuff. Oh! And I was VERY nice! I was NOT beautiful by any means, although my Daddy might disagree. I was cute though... I think. Just cute enough to NOT feel like a toad but I was still pretty insecure about the way I looked, always dieting and feeling fat. But I was actually really confident. I flirted with boys who were years older than me but still managed to stay out of trouble. And I had really really good friends, all of whom were choir geeks or on Drill Team like me. <BR/><BR/>I think the key to a good High School experience is all about friends. Good friends who share similar values are priceless when you are a late-blooming teenager. I had no peer pressure really. No expecation to fit in where I didn't feel comfortable. I felt comfortable in my skin, albeit flabby skin, I was well liked and was respected and liked by my teachers (because I was a good student of course... I AM a Robertson you know). So High School for me was really great. My only heartbreaks in High School involved having crushes on boys who were WAY out of my league (I think I subconsciously kept it that way... perhaps another discussion) and therefore I could pine away at a distance and write in my diary and pass notes in class about them without ever really putting myself at "risk."<BR/><BR/>So I think about my little budding golfer and wonder how HER High School experience will go and how I can help it be like mine (aka fun, exciting, free from heartache and trouble and full of wonderful memories). Sigh...We'll see I guess. I do NOT think I will be blessed with a "late bloomer" though. She is only 8 and quite tiny but she already needs to wear deodorant and has the attitude of a 13 year old. The other day she said to me, "Mom. Seriously. Get a grip." Okay... she hears that one from ME, but still.jo robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16824237193217632098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-44908953025594530422007-07-31T10:23:00.000-04:002007-07-31T10:23:00.000-04:00Lance, (Did your mother name you from a romance no...Lance, (Did your mother name you from a romance novel? :-)<BR/><BR/>Anyway, you brought up an extension of the high school experience...reunions. <BR/><BR/>On my 25th (only in dog years...I'm much younger :-0) I had determined I was NOT going to attend the reunion. Been there a couple of times and couldn't fathom going again. (One year, saw one of the gals I hung out with Jr/Sr year. Hadn't seen her in forever. She had her back to me. I went up and said "Sandy!" She turned around....and had almost a full grown moustache!!! Aghhh)<BR/><BR/>On the afternoon of the reunion, I was actually recouping from some State Fair baking when my friend and our hair stylist called me at home and demanded I come. The stylist insisted she'd stay late and do my hair. I grudgingly agreed and went. (I like getting my hair done)<BR/><BR/>I was one of the better looking ones there! Not so much in LOOKS but I was dressed stylish, my weight was down, I had a LIFE. The popular girls looked like the tired old women you see pinching the melons at Kroger. One guy wore socks and sandals and went to great lengths to tell us about his draining toenail.<BR/><BR/>UGH UGH UGH<BR/><BR/>So, yeah. These high school "friends" can come to my booksigning and see me. I'm done with reunions.Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12566704374877697300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-52159661010174123382007-07-31T09:15:00.000-04:002007-07-31T09:15:00.000-04:00Kennan, you are so right! The unusual people (like...Kennan, you are so right! The unusual people (like you, Cassondra and Lance) are usually the most interesting later in life. <BR/><BR/>I think for many people, staying "in" with the in crowd means they either don't take chances or make choices they otherwise might, or they take chances and make choices they otherwise wouldn't or shouldn't. In other words, they end up not being true to themselves.<BR/><BR/>I think Jo quoted from "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. I remember reading that in junior high and wanting to be that person who "took the road less traveled by". It really has made all the difference!Caren Cranehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12352366686017375279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-55140351187346182962007-07-31T03:19:00.000-04:002007-07-31T03:19:00.000-04:00"beautiful" daughter chiming in here :) (by the wa..."beautiful" daughter chiming in here :) (by the way, only two of your daughters are tall and the other one is waaaaay too skinny).<BR/><BR/>i was a strange breed in high school. i was elected homecoming queen, but wasn't asked to the homecoming dance and had to scramble for my own date--a boy from another school that i knew from church. sheesh. <BR/><BR/>but here is what i am dying to know...where are all those "geeks" now? i am fascinated by that thought. like tara trumbull, who got a perfect score on her SAT but didn't seem to have a single friend. i would rather spend an entire night talking to her about what she's done with her life than with the homecoming king.kennanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16689897282382701892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-69373343057492663182007-07-31T01:51:00.000-04:002007-07-31T01:51:00.000-04:00Welcome, Lance, our token male. Nice to know guys...Welcome, Lance, our token male. Nice to know guys have teenaged angst too! <BR/><BR/>Caren, you're too funny. How nice that you and DH are faux celebrities. I don't even want to THINK about the ten rounds you're doing with your him!<BR/><BR/>Cassondra, thank goodness the years take the edge off or we'd all be in trouble. So poignant, your comment about kids thinking high school is the whole world. So many of our teens can't see beyond that very limiting world to the amazing journeys that lie ahead, ones like we banditas have taken.jo robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16824237193217632098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-24262460349821398292007-07-31T00:00:00.000-04:002007-07-31T00:00:00.000-04:00Yeah, I was a band geek in Jr. High. Actually wors...Yeah, I was a band geek in Jr. High. Actually worse, b/c I didn't fit in with the geeks either so when we went on band trips I was a loner (worse than a geek). <BR/><BR/>Alas, I was a good musician but thought I was too cool for band so by highschool was done with that scene.<BR/><BR/>So I grew up w/o the musical background I could have but like you, at my 20-year reunion, I was The Bomb.Lancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07820834098953774841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-55889252093558940362007-07-30T23:55:00.000-04:002007-07-30T23:55:00.000-04:00Oh, man. Even the subject is painful.Dating? Ha!...Oh, man. Even the subject is painful.<BR/><BR/>Dating? Ha! Me neither. Actually I probably could have been cool, but I wasn't. I was too artsy to be considered a true geek, but I didn't know how to play that into coolness. I was a weird kid. Too different to fit in anywhere really.<BR/><BR/>On one prom night I was half way across the state, singing at a music gig at some church. I started playing music around the region when I was fifteen, and once I could drive I went even further.<BR/><BR/>And just to show HOW uncool I was, my parents knew they could trust me to drive half way across the state alone, be completely responsible,and get myself home safe that night after the gig. I was like a little adult. What a shame. Every parent's dream. Every kid's nightmare. <BR/><BR/>Truth told, most of the time I used it as an excuse. "So, Cassondra, do you have a date for the prom?" <BR/><BR/>"Nah, I've got a gig that night. Booked it last fall." Actually I might not have a gig, but it was easier than admiting I didn't have a date. <BR/><BR/>I was a weird kid. The music. The art. Journalism. And Vo-Ag. The first girl to go four years in FFA in my high school. I had crushes on half the guys in Vo-Ag, but I was everyone's buddy, and the only one who ever asked me out was the one I wasn't a bit interested in. <BR/><BR/>A smart girl would have gone. But me? Nope. Not smart enough to know what was good for me.<BR/><BR/>Sheesh. The years take the edge off, but I remember thinking that school and those people were the whole world. I'm really glad they weren't.Cassondrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07420982030156788059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-53616603720594558842007-07-30T23:37:00.000-04:002007-07-30T23:37:00.000-04:00Doesn't matter, Suz.You're COOL now!Doesn't matter, Suz.<BR/><BR/>You're COOL now!Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12566704374877697300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-58350112468373077662007-07-30T23:04:00.000-04:002007-07-30T23:04:00.000-04:00Sadly, I too was a geek. And like Joan I was on th...Sadly, I too was a geek. And like Joan I was on the periphery of the cool kids group, but some of the "bad" kids hung with me in classes, too. I was sort of "that-girl-who-got-along-with-everyone" as long as their friends weren't nearby!<BR/><BR/>My geeky credentials: Choir and my closest friends were in band. National Honor Society, middle school radio announcer. And I graduated 33 in a class of 400. <BR/><BR/>We had a big sorority type group that most of the "in" girls joined. Uhm, frankly, their rituals seemed stupid to me, so I refused when they recruited me. So I guess that was my one chance to be cool, and I blew it!Suzanne Ferrellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05761579189372602292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-50203552448256171642007-07-30T21:28:00.000-04:002007-07-30T21:28:00.000-04:00You might think a walrus would get lots of dates i...You might think a walrus would get lots of dates in high school, but I was similarly date-challenged. I didn't have a serious boyfriend until I was a junior in college. I only dated one other boy before I met my husband, fell immediately in love, and knew I met my one and only. <BR/><BR/>Caren, your comment about loneliness is so right on. I have re-read some of my journals from high school and college and the pain just ripples off the page--when would I find love? Why was I the only one who never had a boyfriend? Would anyone ever want me? <BR/><BR/>And body image. Don't get me started on body image. Talk about heartache. (shudder)<BR/><BR/>Yes, high school can be a painful pursuit. Of course, there were lots of wonderful times as well, and I look back now with really fond memories. But that teenage angst is nothing to sneeze at.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-44701268417935671352007-07-30T20:26:00.000-04:002007-07-30T20:26:00.000-04:00Jo, I'm a little slow, I'll admit. I think because...Jo, I'm a little slow, I'll admit. I think because I always READ Jo Lewis instead of hearing it, I didn't think of Joe Louis. Joe Louis and I share a birthday, May 13! (We also share it with Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel and George Lucas, among others.) <BR/><BR/>The funny thing is, my husband shares his birthday, January 10, with George Foreman! We never use fists, but we definitely can go 9 rounds! *g*Caren Cranehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12352366686017375279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-62272530738369078122007-07-30T20:20:00.000-04:002007-07-30T20:20:00.000-04:00Trish, I think a lot of us reinvented ourselves wh...Trish, I think a lot of us reinvented ourselves when we got to college. I did! My first name is Benita, and I was always having to spell/explain it, so when I got to college, I used my middle name Jo. That made me Jo Lewis, which you have to be old enough to appreciate (Joe Louis, first black heavy-weight boxing champion).<BR/><BR/>I remember walking across the quad on several occasions, having someone scream "Jo, Jo Lewis," and I'd ignore them, not recognizing my own "new name." It took about two years to make the switch. Now even my Virginia family call me Jo. I'm not sure my husband knows who Benita is LOL.<BR/><BR/>Nowadays if anyone calls for Benita Robertson, I know it's a telemarketer or the IRS! I decided a lot time ago that if I ever sold a manuscript, I'd use my maiden name Jo Lewis; I sort of miss it. My dad would be proud.jo robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16824237193217632098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-20545783458466248322007-07-30T19:31:00.000-04:002007-07-30T19:31:00.000-04:00Trish, that reinventing yourself thing really work...Trish, that reinventing yourself thing really works, doesn't it? I did the same thing. When I started college, we had moved twice in the two previous years (only two moves of my lifetime up to then, by the way). So I had some experience reinventing myself. I hadn't managed, until college, to be much more outgoing. The problem was, there were lots of stupid people wherever we went. And they got on my nerves. *g*<BR/><BR/>So, before classes started I was invited to this Freshman Honors program for extra smart kids and I figured I would meet some geeks like me there and be happy. It worked! My best friend from college was one of those. She is actually gorgeous and is some head honcho of a huge international company now. *g*<BR/><BR/>I also made an effort to smile at people. That's how I started getting dates. Who knew? All those years of orthodontia paid off at last!Caren Cranehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12352366686017375279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-80765615286473451452007-07-30T19:20:00.000-04:002007-07-30T19:20:00.000-04:00I had very limited dating in high school, and thos...I had very limited dating in high school, and those few dates were with guys from other schools, no one I went to school with. I really became comfortable with who I am today beginning in college, when I was out on my own and away from the small town where everyone knows everyone from day one of your life. I sort of reinvented myself, even my name. I was always Patricia in high school and before, but have been Trish ever since college. Now, Patricia sounds odd to me.Trish Milburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08812010789617982102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-9964121109059498432007-07-30T19:08:00.000-04:002007-07-30T19:08:00.000-04:00Donna, love your romance story. I, too, never dat...Donna, love your romance story. I, too, never dated in high school -- I was a youngie, was 16 most of the year and not allowed to date. My husband likes to say I was saving myself for him, ha, ha, but we've been married 41 years, so he may be right.<BR/><BR/>And for those of you who were rah-rah girls during HS, I don't mean to imply that popular kids in high school went downhill after that LOL. <BR/><BR/>I remember seeing Paige H., absolutely the most beautiful, kind and popular girl in my class. She was five months pregnant during the graduation ceremony -- mind this is 1961 -- and she managed to keep it hidden. When I saw her 30 years later, she was still married to the father of her child. Some love affairs are just meant to be, I guess.jo robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16824237193217632098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-89174493029426574722007-07-30T18:06:00.000-04:002007-07-30T18:06:00.000-04:00Caren,I enjoyed Hairspray....can't really pinpoint...Caren,<BR/><BR/>I enjoyed Hairspray....can't really pinpoint WHY LOL<BR/><BR/>I couldn't stop staring at John Travolta as a 500 lb woman with a weird accent. The music was strangely infectious.<BR/><BR/>But that girl who played Tracy WOW! That girl can sing and dance!<BR/><BR/> She was on Regis and Kelly. She is 18 years old, no formal training, worked at a Cold Mountain Creamery and just thought she'd try out....and got it!Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12566704374877697300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-30767083379062621362007-07-30T16:50:00.000-04:002007-07-30T16:50:00.000-04:00No, no! Caren, I wasn't *good* at sports! At our s...No, no! Caren, I wasn't *good* at sports! At our school, it was pretty easy to get into teams if you were moderately co-ordinated. I was never in the A team for anything but I did swimming, gymnastics, netball and volleyball. I don't think we won a game all season in volleyball but we had fun:)Christine Wellshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14260589566405262159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-52191801988025994462007-07-30T16:18:00.000-04:002007-07-30T16:18:00.000-04:00Wow, Christine, you were good at sports? I'm in aw...Wow, Christine, you were good at sports? I'm in awe! I finally learned to walk without tripping over my huge feet, but that's as far as I got. *g*Caren Cranehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12352366686017375279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-35563734710787357272007-07-30T16:17:00.000-04:002007-07-30T16:17:00.000-04:00Oh, Joan, is there any loneliness as aching as tha...Oh, Joan, is there any loneliness as aching as that in high school? I've been lonely as an adult, but I remember <I>pining</I> for true love as a teenager. A physical heartache! Must have been hormonal. *g* <BR/><BR/>I can't wait to see "Hairspray". Did you love it?Caren Cranehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12352366686017375279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-30275870416490707592007-07-30T14:45:00.000-04:002007-07-30T14:45:00.000-04:00Dating? In high school? *sigh*I didn't either and ...Dating? In high school? *sigh*<BR/><BR/>I didn't either and like Donna not for lack of want/need/desire. I spent my prom night out with a friend (also dateless). We went to see "Blazing Saddles" and eat pizza. *huge sigh*<BR/><BR/>I went and saw the new movie "Hairspray" last week. There is a song in there that Tracy sings after Link winks at her. It has her imagining wedding bells and a life of romantic bliss. Gosh, how many of us girls did THAT while in high school? *Joan raises her hand*<BR/><BR/>Having still not found the right one though, I have a LOT of making up to do...can't waitJoanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12566704374877697300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-78473405403537539662007-07-30T14:39:00.000-04:002007-07-30T14:39:00.000-04:00Donna, I love that story! My husband was no cool k...Donna, I love that story! My husband was no cool kid, he was rather geeky like me. Except he was on the wrestling team. See, if I had been a mat girl (which I wasn't chosen for) like my best friend, I could have ridden the bus with the wrestlers and made out with my wrestler boyfriend. <BR/><BR/>Um, except I didn't have a wrestler boyfriend. Or any boyfriend. Like you, Donna, I made up for lost time in college. *g*<BR/><BR/>I met my husband when in college for the second time at 22!Caren Cranehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12352366686017375279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-26433642066006526082007-07-30T14:35:00.000-04:002007-07-30T14:35:00.000-04:00Jo, Here's my deep dark high school agony...I neve...Jo, Here's my deep dark high school agony...I never dated in high school. Not from desire, you understand, I had plenty of that. No one ever asked me. So I never went to prom, never had a first kiss in high school, never held hands in the movies - in high school. I spent Friday and Saturday nights with my girlfriends - wishing, dreaming, hoping that the right guy would come along and realize what a treasure was buried beneath my non-cool exterior.<BR/><BR/>For course college was a dating hallopoolooza. I truly made up for lost time. The ironic thing about all this is that the right guy did come along. We've been very happily married now for 34 years - and he was the big football star of his high school on the other side of the state. Yep - I married one of the cool kids. How ironic is that?Donna MacMeanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10310857800824141312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-84093807165953953932007-07-30T13:15:00.000-04:002007-07-30T13:15:00.000-04:00Ha, ha, Caren, it goes to prove my point: if you l...Ha, ha, Caren, it goes to prove my point: if you live long enough, everyone's cool.jo robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16824237193217632098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-6057272124144402772007-07-30T13:13:00.000-04:002007-07-30T13:13:00.000-04:00Loved your comments, Chris. I'd forgotten all abo...Loved your comments, Chris. I'd forgotten all about the athletes' group, mainly because there were NO female athletes when I was in high school (in ancient Babylonia). Today, that group is a wonderful place for young women to find their niches, I think.jo robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16824237193217632098noreply@blogger.com