Missing Glee

The past two weekends, Nick and I have taken Maggie out hiking in the Jefferson National Forest.

Two weeks ago, we headed down one section of the logging road to explore and let Maggie get her crazy energy out of her system. This past Saturday, we headed to the same area with some friends and their dog, but we went a different direction on the road.

After spending 3 hours hiking in the woods each weekend with no other people around, this has been stuck in my head:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;
       

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,
       

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.
       

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.
             – Robert Frost

Although, I’m sure my version is a bit different.

When I was in high school, we actually sang this poem so that’s the only way I hear it in my head now.

See, I was in chorus from 6th grade through my first year of college, and it’s the biggest thing I miss about those years. Singing in that group was a huge part of my life. We were invited to sing at the Homestead, we participated in competitions every year, and we had fun doing it.

It was our Glee club without all the dancing…most of the time.

While my high school wasn’t huge, there were definitely cliques. I knew where the “cool kids” hung out in the hall between classes and I knew I felt uncomfortable walking past them, even though I was friends with a few of them.

I think what I loved most about my chorus group was that those cliques didn’t matter.

The smaller group I was in only had 16 singers, so we were all pretty good friends. We had to be. A group that size had to trust each other.

We each had different backgrounds, took different classes, lived in different neighborhoods, and hung out with other people outside of chorus.

But none of that mattered.

We laughed all the time – probably a little too much, if you ask our teacher.

We goofed off when we weren’t singing in class or after school rehearsals.

We traveled together for competitions, Spring Break trips, and concerts away from the school.

If there’s one thing I miss about high school, it’s this. I miss being part of a group with a common goal.

I miss the feeling I would get walking into that classroom every other day. The feeling of new sheet music in my hands. How proud we were when we finally perfected a tough piece or learned a song in a new language.

Sure, I still sing to the radio, but it’s not the same. Hearing your group get through a hard song and just knowing that you did it…it’s hard to explain.

In that group, I never felt out of place or that I didn’t belong. That was our group. I’d been singing with the same people since middle school and leaving that behind was tough.

I still keep in touch with a few people from the group. It’s hard now that everyone has families or has moved away, but I’m always happy to see what is happening in their lives. They may never know how much they meant to me, but I know. And I don’t know if I would have made it through high school without them.

What were you involved with in school? Do you miss your high school years?

 

 

 

13 comments

  1. I was involved in “managing” the swim team and the varsity soccer team but can honestly say, I don’t miss high school whatsoever. I wouldn’t go back if you paid me.

  2. I had to memorize that poem and I will never forget it! I was pretty involved in highschool – in the service club, cheerleading, musicals – I do miss it, but I more miss just being a kid. I don’t like growing up!

  3. I was totally uninvolved in high school. It just wasn’t my thing. There are times when I feel as if I missed out but if I had to do it over I don’t think anything would have changed. However, when I watch Glee, I SO wish that could have been my high school!

  4. I still think my high school friends are the best ones. I went to a small high school where we became tight, and i was on everything from fencing to frisbe to student council. Unfortunately, I kind of checked out in senior year with all the other pressures I had from school work and I regret not enjoying it more

  5. i do miss high school! i mean, there are some parts i do not miss at all, but i wish i had appreciate the freedom, fun and utter lack of responsibility i had back then. i also participated in musicals – so you know i miss those too :)

  6. I love this… please keep these writing posts up!

    I wasn’t involved in a whole lot in high school, but I do miss it when I reminisce… I miss my friends, first love, an “easy life” (although I sure didn’t think it was so at the time!).

  7. I was in both Band and chorus. I loved that we all fit in different crowds but could be friends outside the music rooms. Even after I left to be homeschooled they still welcomed me in the band and let me know I was one of them even if I didn’t actually attend the school.

    I still keep in contact with a few of them through facebook.

  8. I honestly don’t miss high school that much. I have still kept in touch with a couple really good friends, but overall I am much happier with where my life is now. It wasn’t that I had a bad time in high school, but I was certainly much less confident and unsure of who I was and now that I know myself better I personally find life more fun.

  9. I was part of choir in middle and high school too. In high school, I belonged to 2 different choirs – the jazz choir which was made up of 1 person from each of the ranges (I alternated between Soprano I and II) and the show choir, which was a ton of fun.

  10. I was involved with the debate team, annual staff and theatre. I don’t miss high school at all though. I miss college most of all.

  11. i miss chorus and band in high school. we had the best time.

  12. Every time I watch Glee, I wish I could’ve been a part of something like that. I played basketball and volleyball in high school, but the teams were always ridiculously large and I always had terrible coaches that never did anything to build team unity.

  13. I love that poem. I definitely miss some things about high school. I was in glee club too (and my glee club didn’t do any crazy dancing… ha). I also went to an all-girls’ boarding school, so some of my closest friends to this day are still my high school friends. When you live with people during those particular years of your life, you feel very close. Luckily we didn’t really have cool kids or cliques… there was a little disparity between boarders and day students, but nothing we didn’t all get over when we needed to. I played sports and was in so many groups. It was really a great time in my life. I’d rather not do all the work over again though! We had two hours of study hall every night and that wasn’t enough time to get everything done!

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