Who Can It Be Now?

Our first senior portrait features a woman who now lives in Hammond. She emailed me recently before she visited Slidell for the weekend to help her parents clean up and fix their flooded house. I don't have a prize to offer if you remember her name and email it to me--but isn't it just fun to play? Isn't it?

Some of you have asked, so here's a brief update: we are still going to plan a reunion for summer 2006, but the discussions are on hold for at least a month. I don't want to finalize a date until we've talked to locations, and those locations and their employees are facing the same problems everyone has after the hurricane. There's so much work to be done--hard, heavy, dirty work. I think I have only the smallest idea when I read emails about people tearing out sheet rock.

Students are returning to public schools on Oct 3. A week after that, I will find out whether the Homecoming football game will still happen. If so, I will let everyone know, both here and via email if I have your email address, whether we make plans to watch the game together and visit afterward. The original date for the Homecoming game was Oct 21, but I have no idea of whether that will change.

I will be away from computer access from Sept 29 to Oct 8, but I will respond to your emails when I'm back online. Send me your contact information if you haven't already. Go ahead. It feels good.

Lunch in the Courtyard

In the last days of class our senior year, I ran around with a camera and recorded much joy, as you see here in the faces of Charlotte, Heath, Lacy, Tara, and Sara. I think that's Robert behind them, scribbling what are no doubt deep thoughts or serious love letters or directions to a great party.

If my memory isn't screwing me here, I think Robert is one of the people with whom Teri told me she attended school her Entire Adolescent Life. People who lived in Slidell for at least 15 years before I arrived saw a lot of changes along Gause Boulevard.

My family lived in a neighborhood off Gause. I abandoned my old car more than once on the street into that subdivision when the water got high after a hard rain. When that giant green car stalled, I could rarely get it started again in wet weather.

Notice the roaming thoughts? I'm having difficulty bringing this post around to mentioning Katrina and its effects. Of course, why would I need to write about it here? What do I know? I'll just keep checking the status of St Tammany schools (the Slidell High link on this page brings you to a link for updates) and scanning photos from the past and sending my positive vibes out to whoever needs them.