Reminiscing

Tonight is dedicated to Catalina. Here is a list of my greatest memories at one of the greatest places on earth

-Seeing my first show. Something's Afoot. One of the best pieces of theatre I've ever witnessed. Those girls were and still are my heros.
-Visiting for the first time. I wanted to do what all the other girls in my class were doing and go to Notre Dame but my parents insisted I visit Catalina. From that first day, I knew that was where I belonged. My tour guide had been in the show (the butler) and that also happened to be the day the cast for Alice in Wonderland was posted and the first day of winter uniforms. Went to Mrs. delaLata's sophomore english class and was reacquainted with her. I had grown up with her daughter Camila but hadn't seen either of them in years.
-Getting my acceptance letter, standing in my kitchen. Literally, it exploded with glitter.
-Seeing Bye Bye Birdie. Changed my life. Inspired me to do theatre. I will always hold that show in my heart.
-First day of classes. Scared to death to even enter study hall. I only knew two people from middle school. But seeing my desk covered with notes from my senior big sisters made me feel so much better.
-Signing up for tech
-Doing tech every day. Worshipping the ground the techies walked on
-Good News, my first show. Scene shifts, hanging out backstage, the scene shift when I was onstage in the light for like 30 seconds was the BIGGEST deal. Thinking the seniors were the best people in the entire world
-Meeting Anna :) I officially met her when I was working on geometry homework in the theatre and she stopped to introduce herself. While wearing her padded body suit because she was the lead in the show, a football star
-My first Shakespeare Festival
-Tech slowly taking over my life and loving every single minute of it
-Assembly every day. First rows, freshman. Then juniors. Then sophomores. Then seniors. When it was cheering time, the freshman cheered with the juniors and sophomores with the seniors. The juniors got a new cheer every year while the seniors kept theirs every year. No one knew when the cheer was going to happen until the seniors got up on their desks.
-Ring sister cheer.
-Birthday announcements. So much awkwardness and so much love
-Hanging out on the front lawn during free periods
-Checking email in the library as many times a day as possible
-Meeting new people in classes
-Sleeping over in the dorms and discovering that amazing life
-RING WEEK. Can't say enough about that.
-My ring week and ring dinner. As a junior, it felt incredible. As a senior, I was incredibly sick. But I was there!
-Prize Days
-Class Night Dinners
-Crying at class night, knowing how much everyone meant to me
-Singing songs we wrote at class night to our class, to the seniors, to our ring sisters
-Visiting teachers in their offices at every possible moment
-Oder snack once you reached junior year
-Being terrified of Mr. Oder as an underclassmen and loving him with all your heart by the time you got him as a teacher
-Ms. Guido being an incredible mentor
-Chemistry, Marine Bio, and Biology with Martha and Maria.
-Inside jokes with people mentioned above
-Meeting my 6 incredible sophomores and spending all my time with them
-Father-Daughter weekends. Dinner off campus in a group on Friday. Dinner on campus on Saturday in study hall. Standing in the receiving line to greet Sister Claire and Dr. Murphy, rushing through dinner because we had the show that night. My mom coming to all of them because she loved it so much. Singing the song Barney wrote to our dads. And senior year, putting up my display for my daddy and having our pictures in the slideshow. Dads singing to us and giving us our roses as seniors.
-The happiness that surrounded Shakespeare festival. By some good fortune, it was always sunny that day. I always felt important because I knew how to run the tech.
-Playing a song for Anna in the recital hall before she graduated
-My birthday announcements. Especially when Anna went up my sophomore year
-Anna's 18th Birthday. This is a quote I said that we still live by "No matter how far apart we are, I will always be your little sister". This has played out so many times over the years.
-Closing night of Once Upon a Mattress, saying goodbye to Anna's class whom I felt a special bond with. When Caitlin Harris said her famous quote about the Catalina theatre
-Going to the PAC for events. Front section, seniors. Behind them, freshmen. In the right section, juniors. In the left hand section, sophomores.
-Candelight Mass. So beautiful.
-Circle before every show
-Senior speeches. We cried so hard when the seniors left but when it was our time, we were okay. It was through this that I discovered it is much harder to be left than to be the one leaving
-Going to Ashland Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival two years in a row with the amazing Hunt family
-California State Thespian Festival Sophomore year
-Cake auctions/spirit day. Shortened classes, junior-senior kickball (or football) game. Cheers done by the freshman and sophomore classes. The senior-junior rivalry. Amazing cakes. THE RING CAKE. And how my class accidentally bought it our sophomore year
-Jodie Blanco. Possibly the worst speaker in history.
-The Yale Spizzwinks coming to sing my sophomore year
-Babies born every year
-Senior rafting trip
-Thinking the upperclassmen were the greatest people on earth. And for the most part, that is true
-Making crepes for National French Week
-Playing cards in study hall on the stage
-Working the Ecco/Accent concerts. What talented actors and singers we had...
-Stage Managing my first show. And keep going after that
-Mentoring younger tech students
-Hanging out on senior deck
-Driving to school by myself
-Having breakfast on campus every morning
-The amazing food
-First lunch and second lunch. And 5th free was the most amazing experience ever
-7th period free and being able to leave early if you could
-Desk assemblies. Picture 260 girls carring old fashioned hinge topped desks out of a large room and lining them in hallways and classrooms
-All the hugs
-Finding my place
-All the friendships I made
-Yearbook dinner. Running up the dorms to sign yearbooks
-The wonderful feeling once finals are over. Waiting in anticipation when it seemed like EVERY row but yours was being excused
-Graduations. The tears and the joy and the pride. How much we had accomplished...it is remarkable