Age 14

The last year of middle school and the beginning of high school. When I was in 7th grade I started taking Japanese. There wasn't too much thought around it other than Amanda was starting Spanish the same year and I didn't want to be in her class. In the early 90s many believed that the Japanese were going to take over business and knowing the language would be an asset. Well, at this point I didn't want to go into business. I think I wanted to be a pediatrician at this point but I took Japanese anyway. One great thing about taking Japanese was that during my 8th grade year I got to go to the high school for my last period with a couple of other 8th graders and take Japanese. This worked out great except for the day we took our 8th grade class picture. You see my friends didn't save me a place and I was late because of that class and I ended up sitting pretty much alone. This basically, again, sums up middle school.

This is a picture of a friend and I dressed up for a restaurant we put on for Consumer and Family Studies. I've grown out of my headgear and have advanced to full blown braces. :-)

Another 8th grade memory... trip to D.C. I ended up being the odd man out in my group of friends. You could sleep 4 to a room and I was number 5 or so. I ended up rooming with a group of three friends that I knew but not very well. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to fit into that group. Not a very comfortable trip but still a really neat city. I'd love to go back. Here is part of the group in front of the White House. Notice the love birds in the front. Every summer I spent enormous amount of time at the pool. I had my year round practice and then we also swam on our neighborhood team. It was a great time. I always felt accomplished swimming with my neighborhood team. The other great thing about having a pool in the neighborhood was getting to know your neighbors and just hanging out. This is a picture from one FREEZING summer swim meet. There seemed to be one every couple of years when the June weather just wasn't warm enough yet. Notice my grandpa in the second picture with his winter coat on. Yep it was THAT cold.

In August the year I was 14 I started high school. And I also joined the marching band. I'm not really sure what I was thinking because I wasn't great at the flute and I didn't really practice. It was a good experience and I have great appreciation for the the half time shows. I also had a number of friends who were also in the marching band. And then there was my first dance. With the boyfriend mentioned in year 13. We of course went to dinner with a group of friends. I think he was the only boy in the group. We wouldn't want to eat alone and just talk to each other. :-) We're obviously very comfortable in this picture. You can tell by the lovely red color of my face.