Junior High School days used to be simple, before the MySpace and Facebook frenzy, before Internet & Text Messaging, before Blackberry’s & Ipod’s, before Playstation or X-Box, and before anyone cared about designer clothes and accessories.
Back in the 90’s when you’d put off 5 hours of homework you had every night, and when light up sneakers were cool. When you went to Blockbuster and rented VHS tapes, not DVD’s and the days when gas was 65 cents a Litre, and Caller ID was a new thing.
When we walked the halls and everyone knew everyone’s name. There was no hatred, no gangs, no competition. It was a place to go where we felt safe, no fears of another student pulling a gun, or stabbing someone. It was all about learning from, and leaning on one another. Every day a bigger challenge than the previous one, but in that short 3 years we as human beings, learned the most about life, about love, about trust, but most of all about ourselves.
Junior High School was full of life challenging experiences, that helped to build us into the people we are today. Excited to attend school dances where the popular music was limited to repetitive songs like, “Macarena”,” Ice Ice Baby”, “Baby Got Back”, “Let’s Talk About Sex” and “Achy Breaky Heart”. Girls standing on one side of the large decorated gymnasium, waiting patiently for cute boys to ask them to dance. Nervous boys standing opposite them, unsure of which girl to ask; at the same time finding comfort in the company of familiar faces.
The days when a good girls night out was a slumber party with five of your closest girlfriends, watching Beverly Hills 90210,Full House, Step By Step, Family Matters, and Boy Meets World; and having indepth conversations when Brenda and Kelly will stop fighting over Dillon; he’s not that sexy anyway. The simple days when the most important detail to nail down was whose parents were going to drive us to a movie on a Saturday night.
When we would beg our teachers to allow us to turn on the radio’s in class because we simply had to listen all day to hear our “favourate song” of all time; even though they knew tomorrow we would come in and have a whole new “favourate song” to listen for.
Competeing to date the cutest most popular boy, even if only for day. When holding hands was considered, hooking up. Saying “not” after almost every sentence was just a regular thing, and sitting in classes making your little paper fortune things, and then pending yoru lunch hour predicting your futures with them was something you looked forward to. Scribbling your name along side the last name of your most recent crush, dreaming about a white dress, and prince charming taking you away.
Junior High meant having ten best friends, and being completely loyal to each one. Walking to the corner store after school and indulging in fifty cent push pops and lucky dips. Checking each other tongues and laughing hysterically at the common conversation.
From Tamagotchi’s to Furby. Trading tapes, and sharing your walkman at lunch. Meeting friends at the mall after school, to catch up on the day’s events, and gossip about who was about to break up or make up. Arguments ended with the phrase “talk to the hand, cuz the face don’t wanna listen.” Levi’s were a designer pair of jeans, and the coolest electronic you could have was a discman.
From children to young adults, Junior High school was a lifetime of lessons learned and memories made. We learned from such role models as New Kids On The Block, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer and Salt N Peppa. We aspired to be great things, and had big dreams for our lives. From our first kiss, to our first dance, to our first broken heart. Most of it happens in junior high, the place where your life as a child ends, and your life as a young adult begins.