Graduation is in the air, my friends. And, it means a little something more to me right now because our sweet, sweet friend and babysitter to our children since almost eight years ago, has graduated. She did today in fact! So, congratulations to her! She’s all growed up now! *sigh* Not only is she on my mind as having completed this mile marker right of passage, but I am seeing many “Happy Graduation” signs posted on houses and in yards around the neighborhood…I couldn’t help but be reminiscent of my own graduation for just a minute. Besides, I very recently stood on the steps that I graduated on 17 years ago!

If you know me, you know I get a little nostalgic at times. This might be one of those times. But it’s interesting because high school wasn’t a wonderfully fond time of my life. I’m not in touch with anyone that I graduated with. I’m pretty sure I was unfriendly to my parents and hardly remember my sister (sorry guys…I love you!)

And yet, when I think about Fort Collins High School, the feeling that comes into my veins might be that of a little bit of extra confidence. All graduations are special in their own right, but I do have to say that mine was for sure…and it was for each and every one of my graduating classmates (some 400? of us). All for the same reason.

My Senior Yearbook

I’ll explain. After seeing through the lives and years of student after student after student for around 75-80 years, the building that was my high school would see my class, of 1995, as the very last class to ever graduate from its walls. They built a new, more modern and fancy one on the other side of town for future generations. (Although, my senior prom was held in the new building, before it ever opened.) So, to commemorate the special-ness of this honor, our graduation ceremony was held on the front steps under the pillars that make that building such a landmark.

The site of my graduation

This is me standing on said steps two weeks ago when Chris and I spent our anniversary weekend in Fort Collins. This was actually the first time that I had been on the property, nevermind, on the front steps, of my high school in about  15 years. You know how when you go back to a place that you frequented as a child and it always seems smaller than what you remember? That’s how it felt to me.

Senior Quote: “Maybe we’ll take all the mean people and use them to fill up the ozone hole.”-Sark

I really think that the girl that I was during my senior year of high school is the girl who I really am at my core. I lost sight of her for a really long time, and believe it or don’t, I think she’s working her way back out these days. Slowly but surely. And, I like it. It feels good to realize who the girl is that I think I’m supposed to be. And, I know it because it feels right. Chris laughed about my quote. You see it up there? He called me a “hippy.” Hoping that isn’t offensive to anyone, I’m sure he means it in a positive light. But, he’s right. I had and still have zero tolerance for mean people!

Our Mascot

But here’s the catch. Anyone who wasn’t a graduate of Fort Collins High School always had material to poke fun at us with. That material comes in the form of a 7-letter word that starts with “L” and ends in “kin.”

Black Sheep

Our mascot was a Lambkin. Don’t ask, because I can’t give you an answer. But listen, it doesn’t matter. Do you make fun of your own kind? I hope not. Do you make fun of your heritage…even if its a goofy one? No. Because it’s your’s. Well, that’s the cross that Lambkins bear. Even my own, loving husband, who happened to attend our rival high school whose mascot was a LOBO (sounds like ROBO or HOBO), cannot NOT snicker at my alma-mater. But, you see that face of a sheep up there in that picture on the bus? That is the face of a BLACK SHEEP, the Lambkin’s alter-ego. And, I just looked up the meaning from UrbanDictionary.com and found this:

A Black Sheep is somone who doesn’t follow mainstream days, Somone who doesn’t care what is in or out. Usually somone causing some Mischief, or terror and laughing about it. Somone that stands out in the crowd.

Generation X

So there you go. And, since I have some kind of weird fascination with my generation (x), I found this title to an article written in my yearbook catching my eye. But, do you think I read it? No! Cause I’m a BLACKSHEEP! 

It’s all put away now. My yearbook. I only took it out for the purpose of these photos. It’s interesting how quickly I found my page but didn’t take any time to reminisce through the rest or remember old friends and what not. A mystery, I’m sure. But for another time perhaps. When I’m 97!

A Career Opportunity

Chris and I did happen to slow down for a moment when this advertisement in the last couple of pages in the yearbook peaked our interest. I think about 1995 not being that long ago, but actually, I suppose it is! I mean, look at this ad, it’s rather dated and quite amusing. I wonder if any of my classmates went on to become an electrician based upon the inspiration of this ad.

For what it’s worth,  it was fun for me to look back even for just a minute on my life in 1995. If I could take anything away from that year that still gives me a sense of pride and causes my chin to tilt up just a little bit higher, it would be the purple and gold colors, the Lambkins, the pillars, the knowledge that no other class got to graduate where we did, that our high school was the one with the city’s namesake, the self-discovery of the girl who I was born to be, and…that our mascot had an alter-ego who was just a little snarky!