Happy Memorial Day! Today is May 25.
My mom ended up waking me up this morning to make sure I didn’t oversleep our journalism nice note get-together. I’d planned on waking up half an hour before she came in, but I’d stayed up until nearly 1 a.m. writing my last (and hardest) nice note, so when my alarm went off I just kept sleeping. Once I got out of bed, I grabbed my computer and made some last minute changes to my nice notes, which mostly consisted of me going through and making sure each nice note would print on its own page and not accidentally end up on another person’s.
For the most part printing went smoothly, but I did have a little trouble getting the paper to load correctly, and half way through my second set of printing (I had to print pages 1-31 and 32-57 separately) the printer ran out of ink. My dad reloaded it, and everything finished printing quickly. I stapled each note together then changed out of pajamas and packed my bag so I’d be ready to leave. I helped my mom with a few tasks as she was finishing taping her nice notes to quotes from the classroom, and then we were out the door.
When we got to Bethel Park, we pulled out our chairs and started forming a circle. Kids from newspaper slowly trickled in, and by about 12:30 p.m. the majority of the staff was there. We made sure nobody was too close together, and when we got up to pass out nice notes I made sure to wear my mask. Before we handed them out, however, each of us went around the circle and shared our favorite memory from the year. Because my memory isn’t great and I wanted to make sure I had something to hold on to, I ended up recording everyone as people shared.
The weather was perfect, and in the shade with a nice breeze I felt perfectly comfortable. We spent three hours hanging out together reading nice notes, signing yearbooks and talking. I enjoyed reading the nice notes people gave me, and I’m going to really miss being on staff next year. I can’t wait to see the next generation of kids take over, though, so I’m sure the program will continue long after I’m gone. I have so many fond memories from my time on staff. It was hands down the best part of high school for me, and I hope other people can find their place and their niche like I did, too.
Around 3 p.m. everyone dispersed, which was perfect timing because the last three of us who were still outside ended up getting caught in a five-minute rain shower. Our nice note party seemed a fitting way to end the year, and I was glad we did it. After my mom and I left, we ended up getting Andy’s Frozen Custard because we were both really hungry. We then drove around to two staff members’ houses to deliver their nice notes because they hadn’t been able to attend. I was happy to see them but also sad they’d missed out on the closure this event had provided.
When we got home, my mom started cooking dinner (salmon with lemon and dill, sweet potatoes and spinach with garlic and mushroom). We ate early, at least relative to when I tend to think our dinner time is, and the meal was delicious. My mom and I told my dad and brother all about how nice notes went, and we were both nostalgic and sentimental from the event. After we finished eating and cleaning dishes, I went into the living room to lay down for a bit. I had been feeling sleepy because I’d been out in the sun for several hours, but I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. I ended up waking up finally at 8:37 p.m., just in time to write my entry for today.
Now that my last “official” event of my high school career is over, I guess I’m now fully graduated and can be in summer-mode. I’m planning on writing a sort of nice notes to some of my close non-journalism friends because we’re all leaving high school, plus I need to deal with a few college-related tasks and write thank you notes to several people who’ve sent me cards congratulating me on graduating. I’ll by no means be bored, and I can always find something to do, but I am starting to feel like this chapter of my life is coming to an end.
“I am by nature a dealer in words, and words are the most powerful drug known to humanity.” ― Rudyard Kipling[TS_VCSC_Lightbox_Gallery content_images=”331110,331111,331113,331114,331115″ content_images_size=”full” content_images_titledata=”caption” content_title=”A glimpse into Bailey Stover’s 69th day of social distancing” data_grid_preloader=”-1″ lightbox_title=”caption” lightbox_effect=”simpleSwitch”][/TS_VCSC_Lightbox_Gallery][penci_text_block block_title_align=”style-title-left” custom_markup_1=””]How did you spend your 69th day of social distancing? Let us know in the comments below.[/penci_text_block]
