.........................Yes, this is THE actual Mercy High School in Omaha, NE
Oh good lord. I got my 20th high school reunion information in the mail this week. What happened?! How did I get to be this old??? Would the time have flown even without Furry Husband keeping me plied with alcohol? Can I blame the years flying by on him and random alcohol induced blackouts?? Well, the last 12 years I could. I guess the other 8 are all my own damn fault....
I attended Mercy High School in Omaha at the height of all the John Hughes films. I dreamed about a boy like Jake from Sixteen Candles, fell in love with Andrew McCarthey in St. Elmo's Fire, wanted to BE Molly Ringwald and longed for a VW Carmengia to drive like her character in Pretty in Pink. Secretly thought a boy like Judd Nelson in Breakfast Club would be scary cool and loved his kiss scene at the end of that movie. I listened to each and every one of those soundtracks over and over and over in an obsessive teenage loop of hormones, moodiness and angst. I haven't heard those songs probably in 20 years and if I did, I'd know all the lyrics by heart. I can hear one playing in my head just writing this post!
Mercy was attached to a convent and it wasn't unusual to have nuns walking the halls. They were not like the nun in Blues Brothers, all rulers and whacking and gliding and judgement - they were diminutive, 4' tall, older women with soft grey curly hair...toy poodle like. I was never hit with a ruler - well by a nun anyway. There was one that had a touch o' the dementia I think and would take your hand in her little papery, bony paw and hold you there softly asking how you were while telling you about her life in Ireland as a girl. You watched the spit build up in the corners of her mouth and tried to politely get away and get to class.
We had all these wierd Highschool chants... like you'd honk your car horn in sync with the syllables to "come out, come out wherever you are, the Mercy girls are in the car!" I bet all the working stiffs in neighborhoods with resident Mercy girls just cringed hearing the horns honking out THAT little ditty at random times. And now that I'm old and know there are pedophile sickos out there...well, that just seems like some sort of sick ADVERTISEMENT don't it?? And we used terms like 'sodium' if a guy had a nice ass. Or if we could get alcohol, it was 'Beverly'... as in "Is Beverly coming to the party?" and we went to school dances so packed with sweaty hormone filled bodies blowing off steam that the gymnasium walls actually sweated. (can you say ewwww?)
I don't have any BAD memories of highschool - nothing abnormally bad. Pimples, boys, social status woes - not fitting in, wanting a boyfriend, thinking I was just the grossest girl and would NEVER have a boyfriend and let me tell you - hair product for curly hair was sorely lacking in the 80's. I think we all know NE is known for having just a wee bit o' humidity. My having a bad hair day was 365 day event. Tho, I think those things are all sorta universal.
I'm gonna go. Making poor Furry Husband come with and we'll go visit his Mom first in Rock Island, IL. Then stop at the reunion on the way back to CO. I can't believe I've become this mean. Making him visit his Mom AND attend my highschool reunion. Actually he could hide in the hotel room if he wanted... but I am making him come to Omaha NE with me and trust me, that is bad enough.
I sent in some pix of our happy, quirky life for the slideshow. I sent in some normal pix of us along with things like below because I think it will get a laugh. I know I will wake up some day regretting the pix of me showing a buck kid at the WY Fuzzy Goat Show. There I am, with my little buck kid, right next to a fierce looking 8 yr old girl. Or maybe she's just wondering if I brought Beverly with me into the show ring?
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