Piggy Tales: Scotty, Rubber band Band, and Colorado

   Wow!  I'm already a Junior in high school and time has flown by.   If you're just stopping by, this is my13th of 15 post that will focus on my 11th grade year, as a part of Jana's Mommy's Piggy Tales. I'm glad you stopped by and would love to hear about a memory you had from 11h grade.

 
School:   Remember that Army Sargent that was our band director? He continued for a second year and we went from a 40 member band to 8... Yes, that's what I said.  I can now affirm that it is possible to survive.  Each morning would start with marching, knees had to come up to our waist, in high-stepping fashion, as we marched from one end of town to the football field on the other end.  Let me tell you, when we did parades, we got laughed at during football 1/2 time shows, parades, and pep rallys. During one parade, when it was so cold that our lips froze to our instruments, all 8 of us walked off the route and went home with our parents.  When he got really mad and yelled at the trumpets and trombones, the flutes on the front row got really good at dodging his false teeth that were not securely glued in!  It was really gross. When he left (think he was fired) we got Mr. Russ Vallier, a jolly younger guy and he started working on building the band back up. We became known as the Rubberband Band because we were bouncing back.

 
 "I can't believe it, but I'm on the Bullpup Observer staff (our school newspaper) and I was given the position as Co-Feature Editor along with my friend Connie.  We're so excited!"  This was a turning point for me and I loved the freedom to write about human interest stories.  We tried not to write about fluff stuff but wrote about Anorexia and Bulimia, students who were involved in camps for special needs kids, twins (there were 6 sets just in the Jr/Sr. high building and doing the research and surveys on each was a blast), drugs and alcohol, just to name a few.  One of the highlights of my year was getting to cover a Humanities event where James Doohan, Scotty from Star Trek, was the guest speaker.  Since I grew up watching Star Trek with my brother, I absolutely loved this assignment! Another highlight of the year was Mrs. Paine submitted three of my articles to the Kansas Press Women's Communications Contest I won 3rd place for my Scotty article and Honorable Mentions for the one on Special Needs Camps.

Prom:  Jay and I went to each other's Proms.  My sweet cousin offered to let me wear a beautiful dress her mom made her and I felt like a princess.When I went to his prom, it was cool to hang out with him and his friends, which included my brother. Can't remember that we danced much, but we laughed a lot.

Home:  I continued to train and work with Sandy, my new colt, and spent an enormous time with him getting him ready for the day that I would sit on his back and ride him!   I continued to have to visit my brother once a month, and while I dreaded it and even got physically sick before each visit, I knew my brother was always there to protect me during each visit. You see, my father continued his mental abuse with his words each visit, filled his speech with obvious lies and accusations, but he also transferred his physical abuse to my brother, and began repeated attempts to molest me... Even as an older teen, he was able to convince me that no one would believe me, so I told no one.  Please don't despair, because during this time, there was a verse that I clung to: 

For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.   Jeremiah 29:11 

Church:  Church was great!  I loved going to Tyro as the people there were real.  Sometimes Bycroft would preach in overalls (that area is steep with hardworking farmers).  He never minced words and would encourage us to never take his word for anything, but daily and weekly search the Bible and know the Truth.  Something the youth did was travel to Colorado each year for Youth Quake.  YQ is a week long high school age, tenting camping, adventure in the mountains of Colorado that focus on  building spiritual growth. It was a time that you KNEW God created the world with no doubt. I loved the early cool morning, the closeness it brought to the youth group, the incredible sights (Garden of Gods, Pikes Peak, Monarch Pass, etc), and the activities that challenged us physically. It was truly a mountain top experience . God would use these friends and this church to get us through difficult times ahead and to give us a sense of "ahh, this church is home and these people are family."  It's still like that today.

Thanks for staying to the end of my 11th grade Piggy Tale.  It was a week that I dreaded, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It has been a gentle closure along the way - not all journeys and memories are fun, but they do shape us.  God used these events to mold me into who I am, who I would eventually marry, and how we raised our children. 

  If you would like to read more Piggy Tales from other ladies, hope on Over to Mommy's Piggy Tales.   If you would like to join in and start recording your own Piggy Tales, contact Jana at Mommy's Piggy Tales to find out how  (jannajoy25 (at) hotmail.com). she has a second session starting up in October.  If for some reason you missed any of my previous posts, you can find them here.

•  Birth Story
• Preschool-Kindergarten 
• 1st Grade    Heading South
• In-Between Early Memories 
• Second Grade  Streakers, Metal Trees, and Good and Plenty
• Third Grade    Goodbye City Life, Hello Rural Life
• Fourth Grade - Moonshine, Gardens, and Uncle Zeb
• Fifth Grade - Elvis, my own room, and small town life
• Sixth Grade -Freedom Train, Far away friends, and skinny dipping  
•  Seventh Grade -Painful goodbyes, wobbly beginnings, and church camp
• Eighth Grade:Muddled memories, free time, and horses  
• Ninth Grade:John Denver, snakes, and more changes.
• Tenth Grade:Remodeling, first date, and beloved teacher