I was raised in a Michigan subdivision where the corners of 3 (yes, three) school districts came together in that one sub! Four houses down from mine, started school district #2, and two streets over was the third. The local (Catholic) church where we belonged was in this third area of the subdivision and most of my close friends were ones I'd gone to catechism with from kindergarten on. I was the oldest in a large family and, as a result I guess, a pretty outgoing leader. But, I was going to school with kids I hardly ever saw outside of school. Sadly, I was too shy there to allow myself to relax and "be me". I look back at pictures of me then and realize that I was a very pretty girl, but I honestly never felt very pretty then. I was 5'6" tall, 114 lbs with long, straight dark brown hair, big brown eyes (my best feature) and with one really great figure (gosh, what I'd give to have that body back again!) I was an editor of our school newspaper and in quite a few clubs, but where I came alive was after school and on weekends with my local pals. I was outgrowing my tomboy youth, but still had lots of guy friends. We had a pool in our backyard, a basketball hoop fixed to the garage, a vacant lot a few doors down where we played neighborhood softball, football and ice skated in winter. We had a big finished basement with pool table, Foosball table, tv, stereo, and a fridge that Mom kept stocked with pop (sodas) and snacks for us. Mom & Dad's idea was to make our home welcoming for our friends so that they had us there under their discretely watchful eyes (LOL!). My buddies, siblings and I had lots of fun together, spending as much time as possible outside swimming, skating, biking, playing football, softball and basketball. I can't say that I was miserable in HS, because I wasn't; I just was much more of the real Lynn outside of school. I had many friends in school, but never bothered seeing most of them outside. My HS was quite a ways from our home and too far from my school friends. My parents were not about to start providing me and my sibs with cars, as we were all only 1-2 years apart in age. So, back then, my "social circle" remained close to home. When I started dating, most of my boyfriends went to other high schools. I even skipped the dances and senior prom to go with my boyfriends to theirs. Funny thing was after college I moved to south Florida on the ocean where I worked and spent my after hours scuba diving, snorkeling, swimming, water skiing on the intracoastal waterway, playing tennis, deep sea fishing, and played on a girls beach volleyball team with my many friends. When I went back to my 10 year class reunion, practically everyone mentioned that I was like a totally different person. No, they were just seeing the real Lynn for the first time; my childhood friends knew me all along :~) Lynn

Good Luck with your project. I am working on them for my high school kids and I have done a separate album for the sports seasons(have combined all the sports into one album) and the other book is their social events, family gatherings, etc. If you have enough pictures that you could do a separate album for your special events(trips to Europe) but also do a two page spread to put into your bigger album so you have your life in chronological order. Does this make sense-for instance if you went to Europe during the summer of 99-include that in the order of your bigger book? Send a response if that doesn't make sense. I always try to do a two page spread if possible so that the pages look nice together so if you have homecoming pictures and then nothing until Christmas you don't have a fall scene next to a winter scene. Just respond if this doesn't make sense. I also do some cheating with my books. Because I do pages for my daughters that I want in my book-I take my pages into Staples(office supply) and get a color copy made for $1.58 to put in my book. I use the 81/2 by 11 inch pages. Good Luck.

I saw these sites on the C&D forum. HOpe they help. PS: If you find a nurse poem, if you could let me know, I'd be much appreciated. Ours is fabulous. Ooh... found 2 very good poem sites off the scrapbooking forum. This one posts a bunch of links to poetry sites http://www.scraplink.com/poems.htm Features the Poems of the Month. Scroll to the bottom for their archives of poems! http://www.scrapobsession.com/poem.shtml OH! I do have a poem that I use for angel hand cream: You're a guardian angel for so many people, Enriching their lives with all that you do. This heavenly cream is a benediction, So that the angels will watch over you! (maybe you chould change "heavenly cream" to somehting like, 'this scrapbook page' or i'm sure someone w/ more talent than I could work the idea of the scrapbook w/ the angels!

I still have them, but only the senior year is reachable. The others are somewhere in the stacks of stuff in the garage. I have always kept the senior yearbook handy because up until a few years ago, we had a reunion every year. I always wanted to go back and jog my memory about everybody. Then it began to taper off until maybe just those who still lived in the area would get together. My DH and I went to the reunions when we still lived in that area. Years went by; we moved away and later moved back. We went to a reunion then, and when we got to the door where it was being held, I looked in and told my DH we must be in the wrong place . . . there was noone in there except old people! There were more reunions to follow before the numbers dwindled to make it impossible, but we had some great ones, including a group cruise for the 50th "follow up." My senior yearbook is for 1942. Sue