Monday:
PJ day-almost all the girls dressed up, almost none of the guys did. The most exciting part of the day for me was discovering the book, Bells on Their Toes, in the school library. It is the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen. I had spent many hours speculating why 3rd born sister Mary was only mentioned three times in Cheaper by the Dozen. In Bells on Their Toes there is a foot note near the beginning that explains that Mary died of diphtheria at the age of four. I was so excited about it that I startled a few people by loudly exclaiming as I left the library, "Mary died! That's what happened!" Ten years in St Thomas, three as a student librarian, and I didn't find that book until I was a senior.
Tuesday:
50 & 60s day-the day ended with a soc-hop in the gym. I was anxious to get the day done because Mom & I headed for Grafton to Twetens to get my senior pictures taken. We went to Twetens because he gave us a discount for living so far away. Float building happened at Jaci's; we had it all together by 11:37pm. I printed out the side banners at home on our Epson dot matrix printer. It took about six hours to print out the signs.
Wednesday:
Picture day-I woke up with a cold but not so sick as to stay home. The senior class picture was taken in Jaci's back yard. I was starting to get panicky about newspaper stories and physics homework that needed to be done. I had trouble even coming up with ideas for the newspaper. Rebecca wired me a single red rose with a note that read, "If I could vote, I'd vote for you."
Thursday:
We were led to the office to cast our ballots for Homecoming king and queen. I voted for Peter and then, despite the laughable idea of me being an embodiment of school spirit and the popular notion that one shouldn't vote for oneself, I voted for myself, reasoning that I didn't vote for myself no one would.
I still was not feeling well and no one would tell me what time the bonfire to announce the winners was, except to say that it was after the girl's basketball game. So I drove myself to the game and was ignored. I followed the crowd to the bonfire and was ignored by all except a group of 7th grade girls, who came up to me to tell me that they had overhead the votes being counted in the office and knew that I was going to be queen. I sharply told them to stop spreading lies. When my name was called to come forward as a nominee I struggled to get up to the fire as a group of students from Valley (we cooperated with them for sports) were blocking my way and I had to explain that it was my name that was just called and I needed to get up there. The winners were announced. Jason was King, Stephanie was Queen. I got back to my car without anyone saying a word to me and drove home. Junior. Tom (the football team's Jr. King Nominee) would be my escort in the parade and for the coronation and football game procession. To this day I hate the picture of myself standing next to Jason and Stephanie at the bonfire that made it into the Yearbook. I had been assigned lay out of that section and had tried to crop myself out of it, but Mrs. Kappel insisted that I keep myself in it so the picture would fit right. It's ironic that mine is one of the largest faces on the page, since I had never felt more invisible in my life.
Friday:
There was freakish weather before the parade and we wondered if it would have to be called off: First rain, then a flurry of snow and then, minutes before we lined up the floats and cars, hale. But just when things were getting started the sun came out. All in all getting nominated was much more fun than being on the court. Our float was carried by 6th graders. I was glad to not have to carry it. Four out of the six years I had to lug a corner of that frame. Tom and I road in a Trans Am-the only car with a top on it. In the evening I picked up Peggy and Junior. Kathy and I took them to the game. It was 40 degrees. Right before the half time procession Freshman Joanna asked the girls on the court if we were nervous and I replied that it didn't matter because standing in a prom dress in the middle of an open field we would all be shaking anyway. The St. Thomas girls changed back into weather appropriate clothes right away but the girls from Valley kept their dresses on for the rest of the game, huddling under blankets. When I got back out to the game Peggy found me and told me that she and Kathy had found a ride to the party: the party that I was not invited to and would never have had interest in going to if I was. I stuck around for the end of the game. We lost 20-26 with our opponents scoring a final TD with only 24 seconds left. It was the last football game I attended until last fall when I saw my nephew play.
The weekend:
Saturday Mom and I went to Grand Forks to shop, picking up my sr. picture proofs in Grafton on the way. On Sunday after church those of us who went to the LCMS Denver Youth gathering in July held a dinner for members of the congregation that helps pay for our trip. I got up and did a slide show. Sunday afternoon I ended up falling asleep in the middle of the living room floor reading the comics. That night I went to bed still trying to come up with an idea for a newspaper story.
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