Now that their home has been cat-free for more than a year, we got to spend a leisurely afternoon at the Allen's house... instead of attempting a public rendezvous with
THIS many kids in tow.
Meeting sweet baby Judah for the first time. Miss Julie even made milkshakes!
Tate crashed in the crib at Grandma's house... all four of my babies have survived this crib! ;o) Grandma's house is the ultimate in entertainment... they sit on her lap and she shows them silly YouTube videos on her iPhone. She's a modern grandma.
For the past 10 years, coming home to Versailles has just meant visiting family, because all of my friends moved away. But Bethany just moved back to Versailles!!! I finally have a BFF back in my hood! Isabelle just started high school at Wofo. Yeah,
I know. I was kind of hoping she would still look like this (
see below). But alas, Facebook did not lie, and she really
is taller than me now. Depressing.
I took the kids over to Bethany's house before we all went together to drop Isabelle off at volleyball practice at WCHS. The girls loved playing with their dog and Wesley hopped around chasing Isabelle's bunny the whole time. So Isabelle's volleyball practice was in the gym, and I hadn't been inside my old high school since 1998, a year after I graduated. Bethany and I decided to walk Isabelle in and see if we could sneak our way into the main building. Turns out every single room was unlocked and in an hour of roaming every single hall, we never encountered a single person. Gotta love that small town security! Wesley took the picture below of Bethany and me in the cafeteria. Looks exactly the same!
The kids running up and down the ramp right outside the journalism room. So many great memories there!!
We even found our old locker! Back then it was blue. Now all the lockers are the same boring beige. That's really the only difference in the building at all... they painted over all the little murals that used to be spattered throughout the halls and there was no sign of the old coding system (
green for freshman, blue for sophomores, red for juniors, and black and gold for seniors). I wonder if they still have class colors and the battle for the spirit stick and all that... I hope so, because it made for some of my best memories of ol' Wofo. Now all the lockers are beige and the halls are white, black and gold. The pic below was taken in the hall right outside the teacher's lounge, near where we used to meet for prayer at Yes Club meetings in Mrs. Duncan's room. That would be the teacher that not only headed up our Christian devotional and prayer club, but that bought me a garter to wear to prom because she was afraid my prudishness would keep me from participating in the garter dance at prom. And apparently that's important. You would think I would laugh at that now, but I actually have the same reaction I did back then...
WHY exactly are teenagers at prom wearing garters for their dates to remove and HOW exactly is that appropriate??? Thank goodness my kids go to a Christain school!
Sheesh. But I digress. WCHS now appears to have an obsession with displaying achievements on banners all throughout the building, which seemed weird to me because we had no such banners at all when I was there. Now every kid that every aced an ACT or won some competitor is emblazoned on a banner. I probably could have kicked some banner butt back in the day. ;o)
Mr. Collins' room! Looks exactly the same. Before Mr. Collins left to take some fancy education reform job, I never used a locker because I kept all my belongings in this supply room off his classroom. Partly for convenience, but mostly because I enjoyed our playful exchanges between classes. I was bummed when he left WCHS but he showed up at Teacher Appreciation Day on campus at Centre during my Governor's Scholars Program summer. I had submitted his name as my favorite teacher, but was surprised when he showed up because I hadn't seen him in a couple years at that point. That's the last time I saw him but he just decided to join the 21st Century and do the Facebook thing, so we just got to catch up a bit recently.
Visiting the classroom of another one of my very favorite teachers... below is what Mr. Cash's room looks like now. Whoever took over his classroom when he retired likes turquoise and apparently WCHS now has central air. I would say those are only changes, but in this photo I dug up of us sitting with Mr. Cash in his classroom, we're sitting at desks that appear to have been made in the 1940s. But I promise I remember sitting in desks like the ones behind Carigan in the former photo! I guess Mr. Cash just liked kickin' it old school. I'm still in touch with Mr. Cash too, by the way. We've exchanged Christmas cards every year since I got married. And he may have even attended my wedding. I know it's terrible that I'm not sure, but that day was a blur and the photographer didn't get photos of every single person at the wedding (
I've stuck my foot in my mouth before talking to someone that was actually at my wedding and I didn't know it!). I'll have to unpack the guest book and check it, but he definitely gave me a wedding gift, because I remember writing the thank you, and he was definitely at Megan's wedding two weeks after mine, because that event was less of a blur to me and I remember talking to him. Anywho, he's now retired and homeschools his grandchildren. How lucky are those kids?!? And just because this blog is my one chance to record memories I don't want to forget, my favorite Mr. Cash memory is the time we (
the class) asked him how he met his wife. You have to know that Mr. Cash is very sweet and calm and non-excitable... never loud or sarcastic. He told us he saw her (
in a parking lot, I think) and in his usual calm and even voice he told us very matter-of-factly that he said to himself, "
Mmm-mmm, I'd like me some of that." To which we all absolutely fell out of desks laughing, and Mr. Cash blushed until he was bright red. How can you not love this man?!! We had us some good times at good ol' Wofo. It was neat to walk the halls again, especially with Bethany... and my crazy kids running like wild banshees up and down every hall.
I manged to squeeze in a visit to see Jerri Ann and family. We're both always so busy, it's hard to get our schedules to match up when I'm home! I wanted so badly to take a picture of my sweet Luke (
who I nannied from the summer after I graduated from college while interviewing for jobs when he was Tate's age), but I didn't want to embarrass him. He's 14 now and taller than me. He doesn't remember me, not one little bit, but that doesn't mean I didn't have to dig DEEP to find the self control to keep from grabbing him and hugging and squeezing and loving on him! He'll always hold a special place in my heart! Luke was helping Marty dig a hole for a basketball goal. Marty texted Jerri Ann this photo as we were visiting inside. I'd say that's going to be deep enough! The girls loved following Lyla and her friend all over the place and Wesley was in heaven hanging with the boys outside. Tate was a terror and Jerri Ann and I barely got a word in as a result, but I'm not sure we've ever had a single conversation without constant toddler intervention from the day we met!
I couldn't leave Lexington without hitting Ramsey's! They just opened a new one on Reynold's Road just a few minutes from church. I got the hot brown. I'm very sad to report that they CLOSED the very historic Rafferty's on Nicholasville... the restaurant that should have boasted a historical marker in honor of Michael and me. First the TGIFridays where we had our first date closed, and now the Rafferty's where he begged for me back. And I noticed as I was driving by the old Turfland Mall to meet Lindsey at Chick-fil-A on Harrodsburg that they're in the midst of completely demolishing what was once the Dillard's Home store where we purchased much of our furniture as newlyweds. All of our history is disappearing! At least Wofo never changes. :o)
At the hotel in Marietta... halfway home!
