Reading what my thirteen-year old friends wrote in my book so many years ago, are you all laughing and thinking how much more sophisticated you were at that age? Earlier this week I discussed the “Roses are Red” autographs and today I will talk about the others.
Apparently my friend, Jo, who I remember as being the best artist in our class with the shortest walk to School Street School (She lived across the street so she could sleep late), had thoughts too scandalous to write about. What a polite young lady she was. I wonder if she would like to weigh in on her past words today. Jo??
I was extremely gawky and skinny at that age. Grandma was constantly telling me to stand up straight and to take smaller steps. I towered over my siblings, so I suppose that my friend Kathy was just being honest when she wrote her “funny” poem to me.
All the girls thought our math teacher, Mr. Hennessey, was so cute. He was single, as was a female math teacher, so my friends Karen, Mary, and I used to stalk them as they went over to the high school together for lunch, wrongly believing a romance was in the making. How shocked we were when Miss N. became engaged to a teacher at the high school.
You all know Karen—my very first friend who is still my friend to this day. This was a friendship which began in kindergarten. Her poem was cute and showed she was happy for the opportunity to be immortalized in my book, but she never indicated how long we had known each other at that moment.
How about this poem from a girl named Liza? We were not close friends, but nevertheless, her seventh-grade humor graced the pages of my book. She should have gone into show-biz!
Sweet Maryanne D! She was the cousin of my fourth-grade crush, Joe, but that never helped to advance any chances of a romance with him.
Nancy “Von Friedman” was not her real name. She always had a sense of humor as you can see from her post. Nancy was the friend who attended the USC Journalism School and has gone on to write two fascinating books on the topic of the paranormal. I enjoyed both books. She writes under the penname “Louisa Oakley Green.” Check her out if that subject interests you.
Adria was a very pretty, quiet girl who I knew from my days at School Street School. The simplicity of her autograph reflects her sweet personality.
The other Mary Ann was the best friend of Liza. As I recall, they were both cheerleaders during those years. I tried out (Why? I never even mastered the basic cartwheel.) There was a tear in the corner of the page she wrote on, which was allegedly caused by her teeth. (I cropped out the tear.)
Susan was another friend from elementary school. I remember spending many happy days playing at her house with Karen. I think she had some kind of tree house. Your thoughts, Karen?
My mathematic-teacher-stalking friend Mary wrote twice in the book. It is ironic that both of her posts contain numbers. Aunt Ar is still friends with Mary’s sister Linda. I will see if she followed a career with any mathematics connections.
Carol was the BFF of Debi. “Sock-it-to-me” is an expression connected to the actress Judy Carne on the show “Laugh In.” Ms. Carne was routinely dropped through a trap door or hit with a bucket of water after uttering those words. Now I wonder and ask, “Carol, why were you the sock-it-to-me kid?”
Frances was the daughter of a nurse, who served as our Girl Scout leader at one time. You will see a similarity between Fran’s poem and that of Aunt Ar—both references the color of the page on which they wrote.
There was only one legitimate celebrity who signed my book. As the celebrity lover of the family, I assign Jamie the chance to check him out. He was the entertainment for one of Grandpa’s company picnics I believe. He was a saxophonist and band leader who played with the famous Glenn Miller Band, who entertained during the late 30’s/early 40’s. Tex Beneke’s most famous song that you would be familiar with was “Midnight Serenade,” which was the song which played as Tom Hanks danced with the older woman, Elizabeth Perkins in the movie “Big.”
Dance to “Midnight Serenade” from “Big”
So that’s my autograph book. Thoughts anyone? I wonder when kids stopped doing this.