Favorite memory: Andy (cannot remember his last name -- he was a year behind us) came up with the spectacular idea of bringing a spiked watermelon to the Totem end-of-the-year party. The bash was in the classroom during the schoolday and we were all giggling and elbowing each other over having this big, vodka-loaded watermelon.
And then Mrs. Whiteside said, "Mmmm, that watermelon looks good! Can someone cut me a slice?"
We had a collective small stroke.
Mrs. Whiteside accepted her slice, took a big bite, and declared it "DELICIOUS!"

I had every intention of joining the Peace Corps, or enlisting in the Air Force or moving to Germany to live with my boyfriend. All I managed to do was move out of Chamberlain's boundary zone. Life has its own tides and you gotta swim with them. I'm glad I did.

I've been working at The Tampa Tribune for 27 years and I'm glad I made the choices that kept me there. I will ride this dinosaur into the tar pits and I'll thank God that I had the opportunity. I've had a really fun work life, and I still enjoy every day (almost) of it.

I'm still married to my first husband (best friend of the guy I was supposed to move to Germany with -- long story!), and our kids are happily working at non-lucrative-but-fulfilling majors. (Seeing a pattern here?) Funny thing is, their circles of friends include subsets (Mrs. Lillian Moore would love me for knowing how to use that word. Hmmm. Maybe not.) that include Allison Marsh's kids!

I appreciate Tony taking up the burden of organizing a renunion. Thank you! You've done a terrific job. Hard as I try to repress my high school memories, reunions make me realize there are some worth remembering.

Fun fact: I missed the 10-year reunion because Trent made an unexpected arrival a month early -- on the first day of the reunion.