The Mesa Browns: Kino Junior High Reunion

(Kelli, Tami & Tara)

Two weeks ago, we had our Kino Junior High School reunion. It was an odd year for a reunion (22 years since we left), but my friend who was coordinating it thought that the year before our 20 year high school reunion would be as good as any to get together. And I agree. It was fun to see so many old faces. Because of how the boundaries worked for our school way back when, our junior high fed into two different high schools: Mountain View (my school) and Wastewood (oh, I mean Westwood). Those that went over to the dark side might affectionately refer to my high school alma mater as Mountain Pew, since it was notorious for smelling like a dairy farm. Yes, the dairy farm was right across the street from Mtn. View, so as soon as the sun went down, it smelled like nobody's business. And of course, the only time any one from another school was at our school was at night for football games, so they just figured that Mtn. View always smelled like the pucky plant.

But back to Kino. Yes, the place of my learning from August 1984 to June 1987. Seventh to ninth grades. Typically rough years for most kids. As I think back to those good old early teenage years, I have a lot of memories. Insecurities about growing up, fitting in. Excitement about dances, lockers, changing classes, meeting new kids. Frustrations about petty girls and goofy boys. Mostly good overall, though. I was a girl who really enjoyed school my whole life. I didn't mind the studying at all and learning came pretty easy for me. And I liked the social and sports aspects of school soooo much. I made some of my real lasting friendships in junior high. Pictured above are two of my great friends, Tami Richeson and Tara (Richards) Lehr that went to Kino with me. We all played softball together starting in junior high and up on through at Mountain View. They both looked so good last week! (Tara made the comment on Facebook that it looks like we all got our hair color out of the same box. Funny...I was thinking the same thing). Both friends are doing well in their lives and seem very happy. I really wish that Karen and Stacy would have gone. I sure missed seeing them! We all last got together in March of this year with some of our other girlfriends to BBQ and catch up with our families (I posted that pic on my "Linda Lou" blog last month.)

My all time favorite Kino teacher even came to the reunion. Mrs. Bennett. She was my volleyball coach and a good friend to so many of us. She taught me about nutrition and fitness and self esteem and hard work. She was so great.

So as I reflected about my junior high school reunion last week and started looking forward to my 20-year high school reunion coming up in 2010, I thought it would be fun to post some of the things that I remember most about junior high. In no particular order: