Jill's 10 year High School Reunion

A few months ago, one of my dearest friends from high school emailed me about our 10 year reunion. She said it was for years 94-98 (we went to a 2A school = really small.) I was SO excited (lame?) because that included my sister, Sarah! So, Sarah flew down to spend time with the family and go to the reunion, my 10 year, her 14 year-lol. Anyway, we decided to take a Girls Road-trip with our mom. It was so fun to go together and reminisce. We had lunch in Bryan at the Olive Garden- yum! Then we went to Rockdale- where we went to church. We were driving by the chapel and they were just finishing an Emergency Preparedness fair. We were so excited to see President Crocker- the Branch President.


I wish I had taken pictures when we drove by our old house, but I was too busy picking my jaw up off the floor. It was a jungle- an inhabited jungle. As we slowly drove by in my mom's car, two men were coming out of the front door- so of course they watched us wondering what we would be doing in Davilla! The front door looked rusty, the yard looked like they'd never heard of John Deere. Where we had a garden, is now fenced in and the grass is almost as tall as the house. (The woman that bought the house has passed away and her son has it now.) It was pretty depressing. But enough about that.

Ahhh, Davilla. My mom's aunt- my Aunt Helen- had flaming red hair, wore lots of makeup, painted her toenails, wore lots of jewelry and sat on her front porch, smoking her cigarette, every day. Her house was pink- but now it's faded.
Clearly, this house has seen better days. Aunt Helen was eccentric to say the least. She was the movie star in the center of town.


The museum which only opens upon request, I hear.
These really old stores are so cool to see. One of the stores used to be called, "This and That Open Now and Then". I don't know who owns them now, but at least the buildings still stand.

Next we headed to Temple and did some shopping before going to back to Rogers for our reunion. I was pretty nervous to see my friends again, and I wasn't sure how many of my classmates would be there. As we drove up I saw several people I recognized. It was really surprising how many people hadn't changed at all! A lot of them were married and there were a lot of little kids running around- more than I expected. AND I forgot my camera in my mom's car! While Sarah and I were at our reunion, my mom went to visit her cousins. Bummer. So I didn't get to take pictures of everybody. At the end of the night, my mom got back in time for me to take a few pictures.
This is me and my friend Kristin- she's the one that emailed about the reunion in the first place. She married her high school sweetheart, Stephen Schiller and they have an adorable little boy, Kendall.
Our senior year we had a foreign exchange student named Eduardo Martin. He is from Brazil and he came for the reunion! It was good to talk to him- he was in a couple of my classes, Spanish I remember for sure. He owns his own company- importing ceramic tile from China and distributing it. He said he's learning Mandarin (Chinese) and he speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English. He should be very successful in international business. He doesn't have a family yet, so it makes it easier to come to these kinds of things. I felt bad for him to come all that way and not many people showed up.
Well, it was fun! Maybe someday I'll be able to take my family up to visit with my friends there... My other friend that was there, Rebecca, is going to send pictures that she took- maybe I can add more then.

(I just want to say- check out my sister Sarah's blog. She also blogged about the reunion and the trip. I loved the way she put it.) So, I'm going to follow-up on my High School experience.

I dreamed last night that I was at my reunion and one of the guys from school that I sometimes got in arguments with, was like, "why are you being so nice to everyone? " I tried to explain to him, "Well, it has been 10 years, I think pretty much everybody's grown-up since high school..." You know? So, apparently he was still bitter about something. lol Luckily it was only a dream and he was not at the reunion. haha

Okay, so I was a lot like Sarah I think- "goody two-shoes", I spoke up for my standards if I felt they were being compromised. I hated hearing swearing. I hung out with the "good" crowd- religious, made good grades, cared about their futures... but we weren't snobby about it. Ew- this is awkward if someone from my school reads this and disagrees... I really tried to be nice to people. I didn't think I was better than anyone, but I was certainly accused of that on a daily basis. I was quiet and didn't have a lot to say, so some people took that to mean that I was a snob. At any rate, I have fond memories of school, the people and teachers.

There were 70 students in my graduating class- nearly a record for the largest, if not THE record. My senior year, our football team went to State Playoffs and played at Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys. We lost, but it was an amazing year for football. I loved going to the games.

Rogers was so laid back that I got one of my PE credits by being an "aide" to the coach... which meant I pretty much spent that class hour in the student library reading magazines, after checking roll. At the beginning of the year I told Coach Doggett that I wanted to be in athletics (for the credit) but that I didn't want to compete, so he pointed at an upper-class man and told me to help her. LOLOL I had it made!

I learned a lot at Rogers, not all of the classes were easy, and I think just about everyone has a story similar to that about their school, right? I even wish my kids could go to that school. If I ever offended anyone (from Rogers that reads this) I really am sorry. Too often I wish that I had done things differently and I pray that the other person doesn't remember.

I'm glad I got to go to the reunion and spend such a good time with my sister and my mom! Thanks y'all!