Boys!

A bad quality photo of me kickin' it up in a GTC concert (I'm on the left, if you can see it!)

So, Stephanie's post that included photos of friends and family that she found on the internet has inspired me. It got me thinking about some people, wondering what they're up to. The first people that popped into my head were this group of guys that I totally looked up to my sophomore year of high school. I decided to post their current photos and tell you a little about them. (not that you really care, probably, but hey. It's all about me.)

When I first got to West High in Iowa City, Iowa, it was still a three year school. In that sophomore year I was lucky enough to get into the swing choir, the infamous Good Time Company. (or GTC, for short!) I say infamous because it was actually known for being a really good swing choir, winning awards at many competitions. These people were serious swingers! It was everything to me to get into that, let me tell you. And at that point, it was a pretty small group of kids and not many lower classmen (or, classwomen!) were chosen. As a person who had been bitten by the performing bug, this was totally my thing. We rehearsed every day after school, had many performances. We traveled all over by bus, often overnight, to perform in contests. Those were some wild times! But what's amazing, is that the people in this group were all really level-headed kids. Oh, we got in trouble for being obnoxious and loud, and cutting up or talking when we were supposed to be listening and rehearsing. But when I think back, none of these kids smoked or drank--at least not that I knew of. None of the 'cool' people were in that sort of crowd. It's pretty amazing, when you think about it. And pretty Leave It to Beaver, for sure.

Matt and I, my graduation day! (it's too bad I look so depressed...!)

So this brings me back to this group of guys that I mentioned earlier. As a sophomore, of course you look up to the upper classmen. (I could say upper classwomen again, but for me it was all about the boys! Ha!) I was introduced to this group by having a mad, mad crush on a boy named Matt, who at that point was a senior. The first time I saw him was actually when I was in Junior High, when GTC came to perform there. One look at him doin' his Brady Bunch moves and my life was never the same. That crush probably lasted 7 years. Oh, I dated other guys and went through periods where I didn't give him much thought, but at any given time if he had asked me out I would have dropped anyone else like a hot potato. When I look back now, I can't believe what I put up with from him. I do think he was a nice guy and sincerely meant well, but man, did he play with my heart! I know rambling on and on is not above me in this blog, but I will spare you the gory details about this craziness. I'll just say that over the years Matt and I were good friends, hanging out together a lot, even the summer before I left for college. Some things started to happen, but never got farther than friendship. At the time I went from being totally confused to being totally pissed off, and I believe the last time I was supposed to meet up with him was at the Cedar Rapids airport to say hello, where he never showed up. Do we girls all have one of these in our lives?? Sheesh, I hope so, so someone else can share my adolescent pain! Ha!

Thad

So!! Matt hung out with a great group of guys. One memory I will share with you was a mortifying one...when I was a freshman in Junior High roller skating at Skateland and then going next door to Happy Joe's pizza was the thing to do. One night Matt was there with some friends. He actually came over to me and asked me if I wanted to attend a "Hello Sophomore, Goodbye Senior" party at his friend Tim's house. After choking on my pizza, I was somehow able to accept the invitation. I talked my friend into coming with me--of course I could not handle this journey into the unknown alone!!! Wouldn't you know, at the last minute my friend was sick and couldn't come to the party--I was on my own after all. Determined to go anyway, my mom dropped me off. That in itself was embarrassing, as of course most people that would be at this thing had driver's licenses. So I get out of the car, my mom waiting in the driveway as I went to the door. I ring the doorbell, wait a minute, and am greeted by Tim. Tim was one of those 'popular' guys, and deserved that title. He was such a sweet guy. He seemed a little surprised to see me, and then I realized why...down the stairs behind him came Matt, donned in nothing but a TOWEL!!!! Matt had told me to come too early!!!! (as I re-live this memory, I realize that seems to be a recurring theme! Aaaak!) It all ended up being fine, with Matt even driving me home, but definitely one my most embarrasing Teen Moments.

So Matt, Tim, Thad, Mickey and Eddie, who was a year younger, are the guys that I remember always hanging out together. They were the goofs who would put on cheerleading outfits and come out with a routine at a pep rally, or put together some fun musical 'special act' at a chorus concert. Everybody knew them, everybody liked them, and they were all just really good guys. Often some of them would just show up at my house and we'd all hang downstairs and watch TV. We had a lot of laughs, for sure, and it's fun for me now to think of my times with them. One good memory I have of Eddie is being on stage in the production of "Hello Dolly" with he and Matt. While talking in character at a dinner table as the spotlight was actually on some other actors, Eddie asked me to the prom.
Eddie

Most of these guys I found these current photos of, but guess who I couldn't? Yup, the ever-elusive Matt. I've heard he is a lawyer in Des Moines, Iowa. Of course of all the photos that's the one I wanted to see the most, but alas, some things never change--he's still messin' with me after all these years. :-) It's funny to me, too, how most of them either became a doctor or a lawyer. One of them is even a successful actor and director. Not surprising, though, really. I actually got an email from Mickey a while back, it was really fun to hear from him. Will I try to get in touch with all of these guys, now that I know where they are? Maybe I will, maybe I won't. It's just nice to know they are just as successful as they were back in high school. Mickey, on the right