Tag: Senior picture

Friday Photo Flashback

It’s time for another Friday Photo Flashback. Once again, today’s installment was prompted by something I noticed on Facebook.

Many of my friends are posting their child’s Senior pictures. Back in the day, you went to a studio and they took your yearbook headshot and a few other forced poses. Today, many opt to go to professional photo studios and have them done outside of the studio. I’ve seen some amazing photos of seniors in a variety of places. Some were on a baseball field, others in the bowling alley, and many outside with fall colors as a background. Then there were others that were taken outside old buildings that had graffiti on the walls, or next to classic cars. There is certainly more variety today!!

Today, you get a few photos. First, the one that I found recently of my mom. This was her high school Senior picture.

This would have been 1966, if I remember correctly. She looks absolutely beautiful in this photo. Before her cancer and all that chemo and radiation, she has such beautiful hair. She always had it done up in some way. Her smile is so subtle in the picture. The thing that gets me, though, are her eyes. Those eyes – there is so much love in them.

Giving equal time to my day, I was able to find one of his Senior picture.

I love that he is in his cap and gown here. He had completed all the requirements for graduation and opted to graduate in January of 1964 instead of waiting and graduating in June with the rest of his class. The photo is in black and white, but I can’t help but wonder what the school colors were. I wonder about it because of the mortarboard. That dark band at the bottom could have been black or blue and the rest of the cap grey or light blue. I don’t know. How can you not dig the skinny tie?

One thing is for sure, I got two things from dad: dark eyes and big eyebrows! You can see that in my Senior picture.

Urgh! The 80’s!! HUGE glasses, thick ties, sideburns, and an awful 70’s porn stache! You’ll have to take my word on the big eye brows, the big glasses are in the way in this picture. One thing I did like was the amount of hair I had back then. I am pretty sure the beginnings of the bald spot were visible at this time from the back, but thankfully not in this picture.

As an added bonus, I will add my baby brother’s Senior picture. Just three years later and he’s rocking one of my ties!

I’m not sure who wore the stache better, him or me. That tie, if I remember right was a real silk tie that my grandmother had bought for me one Christmas. I loved that tie, but one holiday I wound up dripping gravy or salad dressing on it – ruining it for good.

Upon closer examination, it looks like big eyebrows run in my family ….

Senior Cars – Did You Paint Yours?

33 years ago today (June 9, 1988) I walked the stage and was handed my diploma (ok, it was actually the diploma case) at my high school graduation. Exactly 25 years later, I would walk the stage again and receive my college degree in Sleep Medicine.

On my way into work tonight, I saw a car driving on Woodward that belonged to a high school senior. With all the driving I do, I am really surprised that this is the first car I have seen painted up, even though this wasn’t all decked out. On the back window was painted “Class of 2021 and #done.” I believe the students last name was also painted on the side window and perhaps his schools mascot. I didn’t get a real good look at it, but it reminded me of the fun I had painting my 1984 Ford Escort as a high school senior.

My car looked nothing like the one pictured above. We certainly didn’t have the florescent colors and such to do something that detailed. My car consisted of quotes from the friends and relatives, references to some of my favorite celebrities, and of course, inside jokes.

I am sure that somewhere at home I have pictures of just the car, but tonight I was only able to find this picture of my brother and I before I left for graduation. From this picture, I can see a reference to my Uncle Tom (Rozmo), a nod to Dr. Demento (the radio host who played novelty songs), “Do the Hucklebuck” (which is a song from a Honeymooners episode that my buddy Steve and I laughed at), and D.A.K. (which is a reference to my government teacher – Mr. Kuisel. All of his shirts had his initials on it.). I can also barely make out “rippin'” on the hood, which was a phrase our buddy Kenny (also known as the Old Stoner) used to say.

Not seen in the above picture, and the only ones that I can recall off the top of my head, is a nod to the great Soupy Sales, a reference to the song Rag Mop (which is a song by the Ames Brothers that my buddy Steve and I performed in a lip synch show), “Double Pinochle” (which was something we always hoped for when we played cards, BTI (a reference to a nickname we used to call a teacher), and “Bite the Bag!” which was a quote my Uncle used to say from some game they played. I am sure there were more silly inside jokes, but until I find the pictures, I am not going to be able to remember them.

33 years later, when I look at my senior picture, I laugh at the cheesy mustache, marvel at the amount of hair I still had, and wonder just what I would tell that kid if I was staring him in the face today!