My life it seems has been made up by sections. I'm sure looking back every one's somewhat seem this way.
Different ages, houses, babies, jobs, before deaths and after, before marriages and after, before divorces and after.
Almost as if your life was an orange, and if you broke it open all those little segments would be exposed. "This part here is where I .... "
One of those segments, as small as it may be, will still be very present in my orange. It was a two year period of my life. It was when I was 16 until I was 18 and I was not doing so hot in High School. Academically. Socially. Spiritually. Emotionally. Physically. I made the decision and move that maybe wasn't the smartest at the time, and took me down many interesting paths, but to this day I would argue helped shaped who I am and who I became and maybe was the best move. I made the decision to leave High School and go to Vocational School to get my diploma.
At the time to me it seemed like a win win situation. Easier basic classes. Get to be with Animals (I studied Animal Science and Management), hell they even had a barn with pigs and sheep and goats. I would be with hoodlums and hippies and I would get to be me and STILL get a diploma....sign me up!
I drove myself to school the first day, smoking my cigarettes, feeling all badass, feeling like maybe, just maybe I would fit in.
Now many things happened over this two year time. It was a wonderful time in my life. (it was also a dramatic and coming of age time in my life) Some I was prepared for and expected. Some I didn't. I did form some wonderful friends. In our class there was 11 of us. 10 of us were girls. Lol~ I dated the boy some, and there were many firsts that went along with that.
(The picture up top shows many more...not all of us made it. Dropouts and transfers happened...but in the end there was 11 of us. Now again in that picture I was SO MAD because my best friend and my boyfriend had skipped school together that day...so they are not in the picture) (yes...I am the one holding the goat;p)
One thing unexpected was how involved and dedicated these two teachers were to us. They wanted so badly to see us succeed. The junior teacher Ms. Holmes did not take any crap and she worked her butt off to make us learn. She assigned this messed up pot smoking girl to be the SECRETARY of the FFA and gave me a fine looking uniform. She scared the bejessus out of us all I think at times, cause she was tough as nails, and in return I tried harder. Her compliments when given went a long way. I still won't forget her face when in my senior year she heard I had gotten married and was pregnant. I felt ashamed. I wish more than anything she could see me now and see how hard I work and how far I've come, and that YES I beat the odds and am still married to the guy I married back then.
Mr. Stanforth the Senior year teacher was aged and beaten down some by the process, but his dedication to us didn't waiver. He wasn't surprised though by much and rolled with the punches. He is still there to this day. Teaching. Believing in kids.
Many fun times we had those two years. We had a Ram we named Henry who would butt the living daylights out of you if he had the chance. The only male. All the other sheep were female. Now looking back I can. not. believe. they let silly kids out there alone to take care of that devil! Oh we were dumb. That mean ass would pick you up with his head and carry you across the stall and RAM you into the wall. His plan was to kill you. Our plan was to get the water changed and get out alive.
We had kittens in the hayloft. We repaired fences. We froze pinkies (not me...I couldn't do it) We ran a pet shop, we ran a kennel with borrowed SPCA dogs, We ran a grooming shop. We had a lab with rats and mice and snakes. We cleaned poop, and learned how to take rectal temperatures. We had parties and went to concerts, and lost our virginity's, and loved each other.
It was a chapter of my life that has been long closed.
I barely recognize that girl from that picture. I have evolved and turned into so much more. I have grown up.
I just started a facebook page. It has stirred up all these thoughts, memories, and emotions. I have gotten to find some of these long lost girls. Some of these friends that were my everyday world for two whole years of my life. They have families now, so do I. All of our paths zigzagged different ways. They of course have changed and married and grown up. I am not who I was then,
but then again I am. I am still me.
I guess it just is a part of the orange. It is a tiny segment that completes me. It is not me, but a part of me.
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