LBDM Episode 27- Rodney and Stephanie
Well, week 1 of the new school year is in the books, and it was an interesting and very, very busy week to say the least. I think I’m doing well at my new position, and if I can develop a consistent, daily routine in the tasks I have to do, then I think my year is going to go more smoothly than usual. I do miss the kids I’ve worked with the last couple of years, but I am happy and content in my new position and ready for the challenges that await yours truly.
For this episode of LBDM, I wanted to give a couple of shout-outs and trips down memory lane to classmates I ran into for the first time in ages (so it seems) here within the last couple of weeks: Rodney Clayborn and Stephanie Grogan.
The first time I met Rodney was when we were in the 9th grade and we had Science together; it was second period, I believe. I’d had a different Science class with a different teacher and different period (6th period) the first semester of that year, and I got switched because I hated my art teacher. (That’s another story in itself.) Anyway, I got moved to 2nd period Science to a better and easier Science class as well as a better-looking and prettier Science teacher in Coach Bradford. I’m sure all the guys who were in that class with me will agree. I really enjoyed being in that class and made a lot of new friends. That second period class had Rodney, Chris Cotton, Brian Stanford, James Cantue, Pam Shumate, Karen Snoddy, the late Stephen Allen, Aileen Wright, and Terry Lilly. It was a very fun and relaxing (for me anyway) class and I don’t think on any of my work I made lower than a 90. It was that easy. Rodney said I used to sit in there and draw comics of him and some of the others (I did that a LOT back in the day, more than I obviously thought), and I remember we used to take turns playing with Brian Stanford’s watch, which had a game on it, and was probably the first time I’d ever seen a watch like that. I remember any time we did a science project either Rodney or Stephen was my partner, and we had fun doing those, too. I remember thinking that Chris knew the answer to EVERY question Coach Bradford would ask, plus his desk was right in front of her desk (lol), I remember looking around and seeing that James was the only one who went to Judson with me, I remember thinking that Pam was really pretty, I remember looking at Terry and thinking the obvious (lol), I remember Aileen copying my work almost every single day, in fact I remember the four of us, me, Rodney, Brian, and Aileen basically just working together since we all sat close to one another. The whole class was fun, and Rodney and I reminisced about those times. Unfortunately, I never did have another class with Rodney, but we have always remained friends throughout the years. Whenever we run into one another, it’s always warm greetings and laughter, and this time, for the first time, we talked about our grandkids. Who would’ve thought that back in ’83? We probably would’ve laughed back then really hard. “Us? Grand-kids? Ha ha, we’re just trying to pass Science.”
Stephanie came up to me here this past week at LHS and instantly recognized me. I remembered her face, and I knew she went to Judson with me, but her hair color threw me off as we all are going through changes in hair color. And to think I had just looked at an old newspaper clipping of us together way back in the 6th grade. I first met Stephanie in 1st period Advanced Math during that same 6th grade year. I remember knowing that Stephanie’s daddy as well as most of her family were dentists, and Stephanie had made it plain from the get-go that someday she too would be a dentist. Back then, if a girl said something like that to me, I’d be like, “Yeah, right”, but with Stephanie it was different. I truly believed that she would grow up and become a dentist, and of course, she did. We had always gotten along- she was friendly from the start- I can’t say that about some of the ones I met that year, but I can say that about Stephanie. We had a bunch of classes together every year while we were at Judson, and I’m sure we’ve worked together as partners on a few class projects. She was an excellent majorette- I don’t remember seeing her drop her baton at all- and she was very smart. It’s funny, I remember having all those classes with her at Judson, but at LHS, I don’t know if I even had one class with her during those four years. Most of my classes at LHS were with kids who went to Forest Park and Foster in the past, and even though it was strange, I made a lot of new friends because of that. However, because we were pretty good friends at JMS, Stephanie and I have always remained friends, and I guess we’ll always have that newspaper picture of us pretending to count Campbell’s soup labels for the school. How did we even get picked for that picture? I think our class had brought in the most soup labels, and I think that Stephanie and I had brought in the most out of our classmates. Honestly, I don’t remember eating or drinking THAT much soup- I must’ve gotten some from different people, relatives, friends, etc.
Anyway, it was GREAT seeing two of my classmates and great friends in Rodney and Stephanie. Hopefully, I’ll run into more classmates here in the future, and I’ll give a shout-out to them also. It has been 35 years since we graduated, and although times are what they are right now, one thing that can never hopefully be taken away are our memories.
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