Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - We're awesome!

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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<p>Couldn’t agree more. All of us (and especially these kids) need to learn to take it easy, relax. Doing nothing is good for you sometimes! Was just talking to a friend the other day about how it seems expected these days to be “stressed out” - if you are not stressed out, you are not working hard enough.</p>

<p>As far as music goes, D texted me last week that she was very stressed out and decided to play the piano in the common room! You could have knocked me over with a feather!! She loves playing the piano, although it did become painful at the very end when she was playing for hours and hours to get through the audition. She hasn’t practiced in two months, but she was able to play several of her pieces and she said it felt really good. I used to tell her that music could be a relaxing activity for her here at home - she never really agreed, but maybe,just maybe she’s discovering that now that she’s away and is not being “asked” to practice!</p>

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<p>I agree with so much of what has been said. I am busy doing nothing so much of the time. :slight_smile: My body revolts otherwise. My neuro highly encourages actively doing nothing at regular intervals…Dr’s orders.</p>

<p>Bluejr de-stresses by playing his guitars. If it’s just 20min at 2am he has to play before he goes to sleep. I could always tell what mood he was in by what he was playing and the intensity. He would usually move through several and end up so much easier and lighter by the time he was done. I miss hearing him play, moving from the electric to acoustic. He did take the acoustic to school about a month ago and I doubt he sings his roommate to sleep, but I’m told the ladies dig it (or at least the lady that matters). ;)</p>

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<p>Guitars = Girls. I thought everyone knew that!</p>

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<p>Ha ha EmmyBet and Blue, my son also taught himself guitar in 10th grade because its something he always wanted to do but admitted that attracting girls was also a benefit.
Freshman year as we were moving him in a girl in the suite next door said “hey a guitar, cool, can you teach me?” My son smiled at me at said, “see I told ya” He ended up teaching several girls that year, no girlfriends out of it but still has them as very good friends!</p>

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<p>Bluejr has been playing since second grade and never played for much of anyone but himself and us despite lessons. That’s why I thought the ‘chicks dig it’ comment was so funny. I am all too aware that girls fall for the boys in the band. My college boyfriend played bass in a band…Oy vey!! I used to follow them to rinky dink bars to hear them play. He had me at the 67 fender strat. :o</p>

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<p>There’s nothing like a boy with a guitar…</p>

<p>One interesting thing about athletics. A career counselor told D1 to keep her college gymnastics involvement on her resume because employers like gymnasts.</p>

<p>Cooker: I’m glad that you had a nice visit with your daughter. I also always find that it’s hard to readjust after they come home and go back to school.</p>

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<p>EAO</p>

<p>On reunions–I was just thinking about that as the class before mone just had a big # one…Though only about 1/3 of the class attended.
I am not sure how many brought spouses.</p>

<p>After seeing the pictures–
While many of the women did look great, a few …ummm not so much…
AND many of the guys just looked old, out of shape and some looked like they didn’t take good care of themselves…
I recognized many of the women and could probably match names/ faces yet with most of the guys I have no clue…they have changed, aged, balded etc and don’t look anything like their former selves. </p>

<p>We have skipped my DHs reunions and will likely skip mine. We will see how we feel months from now when the planning is underway…if we can roll in something else like college searches for the younger kiddo etc…then maybe we will make the trip.</p>

<p>On athletics–it does take tremendous time and commitment. It has to be their passion…and if it is their passion, then I say go for it.
Very very few will play in college and fewer will be recruited for elite college teams/D1. </p>

<p>We encouraged the instruments–though one tried the alto sax for awhile, and has tried to self/learn the acoustic guitar. The other flat out refused. My mother offered me the old piano I took lessons on–she offered it to us in the last year—which is about 15 years too late…</p>

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<p>Oh fog, sax is a dirty word in our house. Our oldest took lessons one year. NOT a good instrument for a mechanically inclined kid with ADHD who would rather disassemble it then play. Way to many parts. We paid so much to repair that thing!! I found random parts in the vents when we were deep cleaning to sell the house years later. :smiley: Of our three only one has a true self interest in paying music. It is too bad the piano didn’t come earlier from your mother, I agree with you…</p>

<p>Regarding reunions. There is always the chance that some of the ladies that look nice have had a little help. Some men too, but not as common. I am not against it at all, just stating a possibility.</p>

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<p>I’d like to request a little clemency on this kind of judgement. Some people age better, some worse. Some recovered from life-threatening illnesses or circumstances, or are going through chemo or various treatments that leave them looking less than their best. Some are caring for seriously incapacitated parents, children or spouses and don’t have much time for themselves. I’m just glad to see them still above ground. Especially since one of my closest high school friends attended only the 10 year, knowing that he wouldn’t be around for any others (AIDS). I’d give anything to have seen him at our 30th, even aged, balding and out of shape. </p>

<p>A few years back my mom re-established contact with a childhood friend. On seeing each other for the first time in decades, the two 70-something women looked at each other and chorused “you haven’t changed a bit!” :slight_smile: Which is pretty much the way that I see people at my high school reunions. :D</p>

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<p>ST…
It isn’t so much that some didn’t look as well groomed as others…
it was more that pic after pic, the women hands down looked better than the men…</p>

<p>This actually surprises me because many say men “mature and age gracefully”
–women just age/get gray etc…</p>

<p>From all of these pics…that “truth”/wives tale just didn’t ring true…in these pics… it was the opposite for the most part…</p>

<p>Blue–We have a very very nice expensive sax–
I can sell it to you…it has hardly been used!</p>

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<p>D1 asked me very humbly a few years ago, “Do you think I can have the piano someday, since I’m the one who plays it most?” D2 didn’t care - she wants H’s comic book collection instead.</p>

<p>I told D1, “Yes, it would make sense to give you the piano. But be aware - you might not get it until you’re 60!”</p>

<p>We bought her a keyboard as an 18th b-day present, since she wanted one to take to college. It lay under her bed and was a pain to move around for the next couple of years. It is now in my brother’s barn (he lives near her school); she plans to get it “soon.” She has a guitar which she finds much easier to move and take out and play when she feels like it.</p>

<p>D2 did take her tenor sax (her baby!!!) to college and has talked about playing it to relax (I’m not sure if she has - I suggested she take it out onto the quads early on, which certainly would have helped her meet people, for better or for worse!). She also took her violin, which she plays much less. But both instruments have been very helpful in various theatre productions, so she wanted them available. </p>

<p>She does hope at some point to find some opportunities to play the sax in a jazz band, but of course the band rehearses when she’ll be doing her theatre commitments in the evenings. Same with choir. We’re all hoping eventually she can find a way to fit ensemble music back into her life.</p>

<p>D1 as a college grad is finding it interesting figuring out where she’ll be able to sing in a group. She loves classical choral/chamber singing, doesn’t really want to/can’t join a religious choir at this point, and also is in a very transient work pattern right now. So it’s not really happening for the time being.</p>

<p>It will be interesting to see how and where she finds a choral group to join when she settled someplace more longterm. My guess is that she’ll sing again when she’s in grad school, and maybe in a community/festival-type choir depending on where she lives after that (she may stay in a university setting, actually, which would make for ready options).</p>

<p>The phenomenon of how these interests evolve from childhood-HS-college-beyond really fascinates me. I hope that anyone who enjoys any activity can find some way to continue to be involved in it, but a lot of things do complicate that process. Of course sometimes the interest just wanes. I had to give up my sport, and also dancing, in my 40s for health reasons. I have always been able to find ways to play music (besides just alone in my own home), and I consider myself pretty lucky in that.</p>

<p>With kids’ activities, I get bothered when people continually use the expression that they “quit” when they decide to stop. With my girls I told them that if they had put in several years and needed to move on for good reasons, that they could say that they “retired.” I feel that young people don’t need to feel ashamed because they want to explore more opportunities or follow new passions in life.</p>

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<p>I like to avoid reunions! I haven’t been to any of mine. I didn’t have that many friends in my graduating year–most were older or younger, so there’s no draw there. Also, living across the country it would be a major expense to see a bunch of folks I don’t know. I went to one of DH’s reunions because we happened to be in town when it was happening (they were smart and held it in December to catch the holiday visitors). I was pretty bored, I must say. I knew exactly one person besides DH in the entire room. </p>

<p>Music and kids. My DS didn’t want to do anything with the band when he went to college. Then a friend dragged him to the marching band practice and he had such a blast I think it will continue. They are a scramble band and basically make fun of everything and have a good time. They have instruments, so he was able to play the mellophone like he did in HS. I think he will continue because there is no set time commitment, just whenever you can participate. He wanted to join a singing group, but had a cold when tryouts were happening, so he didn’t do well in auditions. I think he will revisit that in the spring or next fall!</p>

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<p>We go every five years to my college reunions. It was a wonderful place that did a great job on socialization as well as education. My friends (and many, many others) include a Fortune 500 CEO, the dean of a law school, med school professors, the head of a foundation, a doctor in public health, an engineer, etc. all come back every five years, with spouses and families [My kids didn’t come back this time for the first time though both had said earlier they would come]. Our spouses attend the college reunions and have become if not friends, friendly. They could stay with us if they came to our neighborhood and vice versa. But, we were very close friends.</p>

<p>I went last year to my HS reunion for the first time. It was also interesting. I was not that social in HS and it wasn’t clear that people beyond a few would know me, but I discovered that many people who I didn’t remember remembered me well and that I had lots of misconceptions about people there and in particular people I thought I knew. Even though it was an affluent suburban HS, there was a much greater socioeconomic and career mix at my HS than at my Ivy reunion. I enjoyed it (not as much as college reunions which are incredibly fun although ShawWife considers it a cult gathering – other schools send people to study ours perhaps because they result in big donations) and found it fascinating.</p>

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<p>It’s funny but I think Facebook put a dent in reunion attendance. A big part of the allure of going is to see what people look like so many years down the road, and facebook answers those questions pretty quickly! I don’t regret going to mine, but I’m glad I had other reasons for making the trip, other people, relatives to see etc. I did have the overwhelming feeling of “there is a reason I have not kept up with most of these people”…people really do change a great deal after high school, something to also remember about our own kids who have just moved on from that ‘great’ institution ;)</p>

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<p>re: music: We have always been a lower income family. When my D was 5 an the organist at our church offered to give her free piano lessons. That lasted for a couple of years until we moved. </p>

<p>By that time I knew she had some talent and made sure she had (almost) weekly lessons until she was 15 at the tail end of 9th grade. That is when she stopped formal lessons and started playing at church every week, sometimes with the organist and sometimes alone. Those lessons were a real sacrifice for us, but we did it. I did it primarily because I thought it could seque into a flexible job at college, either giving lessons or accompanying vocal people.</p>

<p>She is now refusing to talk to the music department about playing for them, though she did audition for and made the 50-60 voice choir at Tulane… at least she is doing something musical and will be around pianos for choir practice. Hopefully she will sit and jam sometime when the choir director can hear her.</p>

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<p>^ I love that you encouraged the love of music. that love and joy will not be wasted…what a GIFT you gave her!</p>

<p>Has anyone read the Wall Street Journal article and seen that of the
“Occupy Wall Street” etc stuff…and who the 99% are…
Well
you can make up to $505,999 and be in the 99%…</p>

<p>Yes you read that correctly!</p>

<p>I agree about FB and reunions.
My DH says that HS reunions aren’t what they were–because at one time graduating HS was a big deal…and a major achievement.
Now many go on to other things and so a HS graduation and “who made it” is not a big deal in and of itself…And depending on the HS many of those grads will go to grad school etc…</p>

<p>From what I am reading on the FB reunion group==it is sounding too much like a “locals” reunion group and not too appealing for those of us who’d be flying in…
I went to my 10th and it wasn’t great…I had wished we had spent the $ to have dinner with my old BFF and her dh instead of being there…It was smokey, loud, an open bar and some had clearly had their fill…</p>

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<p>bajamm: Don’t give up hope that your daughter will play the piano again! My son surprised us last year. He took piano lessons from first through ninth grade and then wanted to stop. He was playing the trumpet in a few school bands and it just seemed like too much. He didn’t play the piano for a couple of years — even at home. Just stopped. Last year, he formed a “rock band” with a few friends and he played the keyboard with them. Then he accompanied a vocal group on the piano at baccalaureate. We were really surprised. He’s not playing the trumpet or piano at college, but who knows…maybe later.</p>

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<p>SlitheyTove, you have a wonderful outlook on people and life. </p>

<p>I agree that Facebook has put a dent on the “reunion” yield. The class of 81 of my high school, just had their 30th reunion and only 45 people showed up out of about 650, ouch. Our class 82 started meeting (somehow I come home and got sucked into the madness) and now 81 has asked if they can try again with us next year. We said yes of course but we are all wondering what’s the deal and Facebook came up as one of the culprits!</p>

<p>I do understand what Fog Fog was saying, via Facebook and Bumping into old friends, I do think the women have aged better than the men (at least in my class) Maybe its because of Miss Clairol or some other help, but in general, not sure what that is all about.
The biggest “surprise” is that the guys who were considered “nerds or geeks” are for the most part, cute, successful and 'well Preserved" and the most popular jock types were the ones who in “general” were a bit out of shape, etc… What my mother always told me and I always told my kids has come true, not to worry the geeks will inherit the earth…(all said in fun but slightly true).</p>

<p>Like I said this particular reunion is one that we are looking forward to. Although its my husbands college class we were both friends and it will be fun to see what everyone is doing. I am definately the more social of my husband and I and I am the one who has kept in touch with everyone.</p>

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<p>Good morning all,</p>

<p>Coffee is ready…Today is my Friday :D</p>

<p>Looking forward to visit S1 and to meet my peeps over the week-end.</p>

<p>ST~Great point of view on the whole the way we look…:wink:
EAO~Indeed the nerds inherit the Earth~ Love this~</p>

<p>Have a great one everybody~Cheers~</p>

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<p>Thanks for the coffee 2edu! Safe travels my friend. This ‘ipeep’ can’t wait for our meet up!! :D</p>