Nostalgia...

Last night was my High School Drama teacher, Gloria Piraino's retirement party.

It was a really amazing night. They gave us the option to do a speech or perform, so a bunch of us got together to write a little skit for her. I got to see my old friends from High School, Erica and Liz, who I haven't seen in forever, and Jessica, who was basically one of my best friends. And of course Jeff, who I'm ashamed to say I hadn't hung out with in almost a year.

What made me happiest was that, though we'd all changed (Liz is MARRIED) we still got along so well. We had one meeting at Erica's parents house, and I swear it was like no time had passed.

But not in a sad, I'm-Still-Stuck-in-High-School way. Because that would be bad.

We wrote a skit with songs from Guys and Dolls, and A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, which were the two main shows we did with her in our years at Cardozo HS.

When we got there, I'm not going to lie, it was weird. I don't remember too much from High School. I didn't really come into my own until college, so High School just didn't hold as many unforgettable experiences for me as it might have for others. In fact, there are maybe three or four teachers that I can really remember from High School as having an impact on me. Ms. Piraino is definitely the top of the heap.

So I knew when we walked into the room, there would be teachers there that I had, but would not remember. I took solace in the fact that they would certainly not remember me. And during cocktail hour I did sit at a table adjacent to two of my old English teachers, and it still took me twenty minutes to remember their names.

But seeing Gloria (still feels weird to call her that) made up for any awkwardness. There were a couple of photo collages up for people to look at in the room where we were having dinner, and there were a bunch of pictures of us. The bulletin board said "Drama Club: The Golden Years," and there were photos from Guys and Dolls, and from events we had, a nice shot of me and Jeff smooching as Sarah Brown and Sky Masterson, and a huge photo of me in my prom dress (which was a belly dancer costume) with the heading "the original Michele." For which she must be punished.

But seriously, that was really something. I mean, we always joked that we were a high point for the Cardozo Drama Club, but we were just playing around. To see our class actually referred to as "the golden years" really meant a lot.

We did our skit, and tried very hard to keep it up and happy, and I made it through my whole Individual Thanks segment without crying, but I was tearing up at the end.

No matter how much training I receive or what kind of technique I learn, Gloria Piraino was the first person who ever told me that I was talented, who gave me a place to really be who I was. I don't think I really realized how much of an impact she really had on me until I was in a room full of teachers from my High School and she was the only one I had actual memories of.

When I hugged her after our performance she told me how proud she was of me, and more than anything I am so happy that I make her proud. I think I'll be totally happy no matter what I end up doing with my career as long as ten years down the road, I'm still making her proud.