The Beginning of the End Before I Even Knew it…

So, I got this email on May 12 and I was shocked when I saw it:

Wait. What?! Back when I was in high school, I tried to bring that word back super hard! It never stuck! I said it all the time till about junior year and then I had to stop because it was not coming back. I saw that email and I was aghast!

I graduated 23 years ago, and we were NOT saying Rad! How I wish I would have been! How I wish everyone would have been! But now?! That’s NOT cool! I guess I was ahead of the curve!

I never had a formal graduation party with my entire family because my Dad had open heart surgery the day after I graduated! He was in the hospital when I graduated with my bachelors degree, he had already died when I got my masters degree.

My Mom asked me probably in about 2010 why I did not give out all of my graduation pictures and she was kind of irritated with me because I was very particular about my pictures! I had two different photo shoots. One indoor and one outdoor. I just matter-of-factly reminded her that my dad had open heart surgery the day after I graduated, and I did not have a party that summer; he was recovering!

I knew that my senior pictures were in my Dad’s armoire or in my Mom’s drawer. My Mom went to her house in March and she brought the little box of my pictures. They have been sitting on my table for about two months, but she took pictures of them so I could see them.

I guess it’s better late than never but these pictures are 23 years old. It was the beginning of the end before I even knew it. I was diagnosed with MS the December after I took these pictures:

Okay, about those eyebrows! That was the style! I was cool! And I have no idea where my class ring is now…

I still own that blanket! It has a hole in it from my wheelchair, but I still have it! I have always LOVED cookie monster!

I remember that American Eagle shirt! I got it because I was a 2000 graduate!!!

Oh, those shoes! Those shoes are a size too big, but the name was in the tongue, and the name of the shoe was, “Jenny.” I HAD TO HAVE those shoes! They were heavy to walk in and those jeans were my favorite pair of jeans!!!

I am pretty sure that the necklace I am wearing. Was my a guardian angel necklace? I got from my brother, Steve, for my Confirmation. He was my sponsor.

This was the final picture. But the whole reason that I shared these pictures is because you can see how long my hair was and I am going tomorrow to get my hair cut even shorter. I was talking to my best friend about it last Friday and this was my consensus to her: