30-6: When You Bleed Purple And Gold

You know, I enjoyed high school. I wasn't popular. I wasn't even well-known. I was a run-of-the-mill student who occasionally performed in the talent show and variety show, liked to wear overalls, fake Birkenstocks, many necklaces and bad haircuts.

But I LOVED the tradition at our high school. In fact, tradition is a huge part of the high school I went to. We even had a traditions ceremony. Our high school was based off of a lot of history and well, attending our school was pretty much a badge of honor.

I went to all of the pep rallies, every football game that I could go to. I still know our Alma Mater by heart.

MESA HIGH.

I found this box when Bryce & I were cleaning out the storage room.

I forgot that it was even up there. It's full of stuff from my youth: a unicorn alarm clock, two Hanson posters (why do I still have these??????) AND my mementos from high school. I had packed this box so meticulously that these items were on top, so you could see them through the lid.

It made me think back, to 20 years ago, when I first stepped onto Jackrabbit soil...I was so nervous. I had braces, grandma glasses, a purple fringe leather vest and holey jeans.

Sigh. I had misconstrued visions of what my life was going to look like when I was "grown up". I just wanted someone to like me, I wanted to be famous and I thought writing songs like "Wild Child" would boost me to levels of amazingness.

I heard a song today on the radio:

Dear younger me
I cannot decide
Do I give some speech about how to get the most out of your life
Or do I go deep
And try to change
The choices that you'll make cause they're choices that made me
Even though I love this crazy life
Sometimes I wish it was a smoother ride
Dear younger me

And it's true. So instead of thinking of all the awkwardness, the mistakes and the visions of grandeur that I had, I'm going to enjoy the nostalgia that comes in the shape of a blue box with pom poms in it...and enjoy the ride.