Atomictumor

The kids spent the weekend up at James’ folks house. I sent Bos over to Rutledge (the half-way point for picking up the kids) yesterday so I could savor the last few hours of quiet. I spent the time working on the next installment of the Willow Brook yearbook.

GAC and I did the yearbook together last year. It was MastaG’s first year as a cross-boundary student at WB, and GAC and I had decided to brave joining the PTO together. I don’t do well in social situations, and GAC made an awesome security blanket. The first meeting we attended was…interesting, to say the least, but we managed to not get scared off. GAC and I had both worked on the annual in high school (go Mavs!…ugh), so we let the PTO folks know that we would be interested in helping put together WB’s yearbook. We later met with the yearbook/publicity chairperson and started making plans. Within a month or so, though, the chair decided the PTO just wasn’t for her and GAC and I were left holding the yearbook and publicity bag.

So we got to work. Being new to the PTO and not quite understanding the whole school dynamic, there were plenty of bumps along the way. I chalked it up to being “on the learning curve,” but I was sensitive to making mistakes, misjudgments, etc and it ended up taking a toll on me. GAC seemed to handle it better, although her nightmare came in selling business card advertisements. Using Lugnut as an excuse, I asked GAC if she could handle that aspect. She agreed and hated every last minute of it. Rude business owners, rejection upon rejection.

The making of the yearbook itself was much easier and actually pretty fun. The process was a bit archaic - cut & paste. We went through many a bottle of rubber cement. We didn’t always agree on layout, but always worked it out and ended up with a really nice yearbook. In the end, it was a good experience.

Things changed with this year’s yearbook. Instead of using a publisher (Lifetouch charged out the ass), the PTO wanted to move toward producing it ourselves and saving some cash. Being familiar with layout & design software, I volunteered to head it up again. It was GAC’s last semester in school, and a very busy one at that, so it was no longer a joint venture.

So that’s what I worked on yesterday. I’ve never minded working alone on projects, but I’m realizing that doing the yearbook by myself this year is going to be lonely. I find myself missing GAC during moments like that, or when I’m waiting on the afternoon bus. I always looked forward to those brief visits. Fortunately, we’re out of cook-out season, or I’d be royally missing those, too.

Get better soon, GAC. We love & miss you.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 13th, 2006 at 9:36 am and is filed under friends, Kids, Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.