Then & Now

You know the saying, you can never go home? For any of you that know me, you know I can't exactly say that. I mean, I live at home. But, to me, that saying more applies to when you leave somewhere, like a job or a relationship, there really isn't any going back. I just had a very stark reminder of that today.

As some of you may know, I've been a part of the Brentwood School community since I was born. My first yearbook picture was taken at age 2. (By the way, how cute is my mom in these pictures.)

I remember when the school was just a converted military academy, before "baby Brentwood", when classes were held in trailers because the lower school was being built. Back in the day they'd rent the campus for productions. Once a production was going and the actresses went topless and played volleyball for the cameras. That production was stopped real quick. On the weekends they rent out the campus and the teachers would come to their classrooms and find mattresses. There are a thousand stories.

I derived much of my identity as a teacher's kid...in both the good and the bad that came with that designation. I was always in the thick of what was going on at the school but at the same time laughed at for being one of the poor kids, unable to afford the clothes and random stuff that goes with attending a private school.

Yeah, my senior year ID. I'm not wearing my glasses but I am wearing make-up, something you'd only see on book day. But, as you can't exactly see, I'm wearing my prize possession at the time...the only item I bought that last summer working at Fred Segal, my Koobai gray eyelet bodysuit. Yes, all the ladies who lived through 1992 remember the bodysuits. And, at that time, it was the only designer item I owned. I was so fabulous in it I could hardly stand myself and helped to start an addiction I still proudly support today.

Its been 16 years since I graduated that campus, and I still get mixed emotions going there. Today, there was nothing mixed. It was an all-alumni BBQ but mom & I were there to support a friend of hers, the Dean of Students, the heart of Brentwood.

I've moved on from Brentwood. Sure, today I wore the Dolce & Gabana capris, the Miu Miu shoes, the Betsy Johnson purse... I'm still the fashion-obsessed kid I was 16 years ago. But, now I'm making a bit more than the $2,000 I'd clear every summer from Fred Segal so I can feed the beast easier.

But, at the same time, I'm more comfortable having a friend shoot me paparazi style at a birthday picnic.

I like home where it is now. I like who I am now. I couldn't say that in high school. Its nice to say that now.