Memories...

Oddly enough, I have been thinking about the time I spent at Butler High School lately. I was only there two years but like all events we experience, it impacted my life in good and bad ways.

I’ve never attended a high school reunion since most of my friends were not in my class but instead were members of all the classes before and after me. Hard to find the reunion that covers that group! (Someday I would love to meet up with all the drama and radio kids again though.)

At any rate due to my writing my Young Adult novel (which has a target audience of 12 – 18 year olds), I have been thinking about incidents in high school and the angst attached to them – the desire to fit in, the broken hearts, the need to appear cool, and all the trials and tribulations of school. Though the hairstyles and clothing has thankfully changed since my days in school the issues are the same for kids in school today.

And as I get older I realize that the issues in high school are the same today as an adult. The desire to be liked and fit in with co-workers and family, broken hearts with broken relationships, disappointments, the need to appear cool or acceptable to hire at a job interview, the need to persuade the board to like you and thus your ideas. The further I am removed from school, the closer I am back to that first day my sophomore year at Butler High hoping that I would be able to open my locker.

Angst is angst whether you are 14 or 43. I may have better coping skills now than I did then and I may have the ability to remove myself emotionally and see the big picture but the fear remains the same. At least I hope I have those skills now, some days the “locker” doesn’t open and I have to wonder at my emotional response. Regardless, it is all good fodder for the book.