I finally got rid of all my yearbooks. I was going to write about it, but this flipped up in my oldies file from 2017 and nothing has changed (except now they are all gone). I’m going with this. Same old, same old.
While cleaning up (and tossing out), I found my old yearbooks from high school. How can you not stop what you are doing and look through them?
(Seriously, I look for any excuse to stop work on a real project!)
Initially I was struck by how young we all looked. As you age day-to-day you don’t notice the jowls and rolls accumulating on your frame. Then one day you wonder who that old person is in the mirror! (This doesn’t apply to you. You will always be young and gorgeous!)
As I flipped through, I saw all my old friends. Many are gone. Some permanently as in death and others moved to other states. I am not in touch with any high school friends. (Having said that, my bestie died about five years ago. We had been in touch even when she moved to a different state until her death.)
The clothes — did we really wear that? Girls weren’t allowed to wear pants to school back then, so it was dresses or skirts/sweaters/blouses with either knee-high socks or hose.
For those of you who are young, hose was a medieval form of torture for women. It’s a very sheer fabric that covers your legs up to your thighs (pantyhose had not yet been invented along with the internet). They stayed up with a contraption of a garter belt with crazy looking hooks that pinched and made marks on your legs.
Hosiery also ran (got holes) if you looked at it cross-eyed. Mostly we wore knee-high socks unless it was hot. Cheaper and easier.
There were those hideous cats-eye glasses too. Yikes! ‘Nough said about that. (Contact lenses had just been invented but no one could afford them.)
The guys looked so…thin. They hadn’t filled out around the face and neck. There wasn’t much peach fuzz on the baby face either. All the guys greased their hair (with Brylcreem…a little dab will do ya!) We thought they were hunks. *bangs head on desk*
The teachers looked old. Even by today’s perspective, they look old! (Seriously we look a lot younger these days!)
There were contrived photos of seniors at the various contributors’ stores. There was a picture of three kids walking up the steps at a funeral parlor. Glad I didn’t get that assignment. Another was of an ice cream shop. I didn’t get that gig either.
As a matter of fact, I wasn’t in any of the photos except for my senior picture. (This picture was when I learned that you NEVER EVER get a haircut the day before any function that will result in a photo.)
My friends and I did not leave a footprint in our high school yearbook!
We were active in school. We were in clubs; attended athletic games; and dances. Why weren’t any of us in pictures?
It was the same group of kids in everything. Homecoming, plays, recitals. We all attended those things but there was a group of ten to fifteen that were in all the pictures. All. Of. Them.
I was shocked. I attended a small school. Our graduating class was 110 kids. The yearbook “team” selected groups and scheduled shots but there was a teacher advisor looking over all of this. What was he/she thinking? Perhaps this was back in the day before self-esteem was invented (along with pantyhose and the internet). No one really cared about anyone feeling left out, especially 50 years later!
We’ve come a long way baby!
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 
I think I may be a few years younger than you Kate, but I remember not being able to wear pants in our school uniforms in grade 9, (1970), but then they changed it thank god. And I vaguely remember garter belts when I was 12, but then pantyhose came in thank god. Everyone had the same straight parted down the middle hair. Guys hair tended to be longer. In later yearbooks, skirts got shorter and shorter. I wonder at my mother allowing us to wear skirts shorter than our vests! She made our uniforms, so it must have been ok. I did not roll my skirts like some kids did. But wow, your class was small enough that the editors should have been more inclusive of everyone!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes you are younger. I graduated in 1964, just before the whole cultural revolution. The Beatles were just coming in with longer hair for men and white boots for women. It was just before the hippie movement. I was working when I wore bell bottoms and tie-dyed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I graduated in 1975, so yes ten years of lots of changes.
LikeLike
“Pantyhose” is the most hilarious American word. It sounds naughty even though it’s not. I’m so glad we call them tights.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Technically, tights are thicker than hose with is transparent. I’m not sure if they are still available or if anyone wears them. It does sound naughty, almost British naughty
LikeLiked by 1 person
We still call the very thin ones “tights”. They’re just “sheer tights”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe we do too. :)
LikeLike
No greased back locks in my yearbook . . . it was hair down to the shoulders for guys, and halfway down the back for girls. Just like in the movie HAIR ~ grow it, flow it, show it! :D
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was in the generation just before. There were only 2 girls with “long” hair which was defined as between chin and shoulder length. All the other girls wore short layered hair. None of the guys had long hair. The beatles were just starting to influence.
LikeLike
We did get to wear pants to school in high school. Mostly bell bottoms in groovy colors. :D
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was out of school before groovy came in!
LikeLike
Oh yes…..we’ve come a long way and then some. Progress? Well, sort of. Maybe not quite what we thought it would be but then what (truly) is what we thought it would be back then? For one thing I never ONCE thought about being this age – we were going to be young forever right? Reality hit. Sometimes softly and sometimes with a hard smack. I actually realize I wouldn’t change much – even the bad stuff taught me a lot about surviving. I still have one yearbook…..just the one with my senior photo in it and all the messages people wrote. Just couldn’t part with that one.
Loved this post!
Hugs, Pam
LikeLiked by 1 person
We got our yearbooks after school ended so there was no way to have people sign the book. That may have made it more valuable to me. I was stunned at how young and beautiful we all were (but didn’t know it at the time). We have also aged better than the adult teacher group. I still can’t believe that my friends and I weren’t included in any pictures. It was a small class.
LikeLike