Mom, are you reading my yearbook again?

Last day of school! (Insert high-pitched, adolescent whooping and hollering.)

Even though some of us haven't attended any type of academia for well nigh thirty years, who among us can't still feel those exhilarating pangs of emancipation from all those years ago?

And for those of us who harbor students in our homes, it all comes flooding back with a greater vengeance. Both of my kids have been lounging around the house for the past few days, reading their yearbooks, gazing at pictures and notes from friends, already waxing nostalgic before the year has even concluded.

Since my older daughter is just finishing up her freshman year, and since I had previously unearthed my ninth-grade annual for a post about basketball uniforms, I decided to compare and contrast the types of comments our respective classmates jotted in our freshman yearbooks.

I don't want to embarrass her by quoting actual passages, but suffice it to say that the gist of what teenagers write has not changed much over this thirty-two-year chasm. Here's a little sampling of what I found in my Olympic Junior High, 1977-78 yearbook (all spelling and grammatical errors have been retained for historical purposes):

"I really don't know you to good but I think you are nice."
Hmmm...I guess that's like the pleasant elderly lady you see reading her book on the bus—I don't know her, but she's nice.

"You are a real funny person but a little dirty but a nice person."
Oops, that's actually from my report card.

"I hope you have a great summer, but not so great that you forget everything we've been through."
I don't remember that summer very well, but hopefully I took some time to reflect on those awful times where we had finally made it to the front of the lunch line, only to discover that they were out of mashed potato buds, and we had to eat our hamburger gravy over rice. Profound days.

"Have a good summer and don't get too high."
This is probably the best advice I received, as all that summer, I contained myself to only one tube of airplane glue.

"If I were to rate you on a scale for jocks, youd barely not make it."
No idea.

"Have the best summer ever, and if you don't, here's a great recipe:
1 dash of giggles
2 cups of fun
3 pounds of happiness
and a summer full of sun!"
Oh, wow, I can't believe it...I attended ninth grade with Barney!

Thankfully, my daughter's yearbook didn't contain any drug references, and I'm sure my mom was a little shocked when she snuck mine out of my room and read it.

So to all you kids who have nothing but time on your hands for the next two-and-a-half-months, have a great, safe summer, and please refrain from the two words which drive parents insane: "I'm bored."

'81 rules.