Speaking of life changes. There is, perhaps, no bigger change in life than the ones you make during adolesence. I recently found my Jr. High and High School I.D.s in an old album. Check out the change over six years. I also want to be sure to point m’boy Clayton to my Junior year in high school when I was growing a righteous mullet. The only problem was that my hair was so curly when it grew out that I couldn’t get it to hang straight down the way it was supposed to. True story: When my mullet was at its longest I went to the bank one day. I opened the door for an elderly gentleman who was shuffling slowly into the bank at the same time. “Why thank you young lady,” he said to me. I got my hair cut that afternoon and never looked back. C’est la vie.
My School I.D.s from 7th through 12th Grade
lol! Great story.
Thanks for stopping by!
Totally agree! Made me laugh!
Great story! I still look about the same as I did in my 8th grade year book, though I’ve finally discovered bangs are not for me.
LOL! Isn’t it nice to know that we’re never too old to ascend out of our denial!
Hi! Just to say I enjoyed your blog and have subscribed. Hope you’ll check out mine and maybe do the same. All the best to you.
Thanks for the follow and the kind words. Hope all is well in the UK! Visited there back in 2009 and can’t wait to go back.
I had a similar experience over here in the UK in the early 70s. My hair went very wavy when i tried to grow it long. In a music shop a woman came up behaind me and said “Excuse me, young lady.” I left quick and felt so embarassed, but I think I stuck with the hair for a while longer. It’s funny how we change in photos and in the mirror yet we feel the same inside. I’m sure I’m still 14…..
Ha! Yes, I look at the gray hair and feel the rolling of the eyes as my children think me incredibly lame, but am enjoying life every bit as I did twenty or thirty years ago (enjoying it more, actually).
I collect pics of my classmates’ old and embarrassing IDs just so I can blackmail them later.
Well, I don’t know if you’re a former classmate, but I’m glad that by going public I may have saved myself a few bucks!
It’s always interesting to look back and how we changed not just physically, but watching our budding sophistication develop. Thanks for this post, Tom!
You’re so right, Alan. I think I know a few people who changed on the outside but their sophistication seemed to stop at about 13 years old. It’s good to look back on the road behind us and see how far we’ve come.
Always cool to look back at what we looked liked, and where we came from. Makes me wonder if my folks kept mine?!?! Cheers.
If you find them and post them, let me know so I can return the favor! Cheers!
Ha ha, what an excellent post
The worst picture I have on any ID card that I currently own is on my NUS card, where the only picture I had of me facing directly forward, was also the one where I was holding a White Russian next to my face. People would always ask, ‘Why are you holding a glass of milk?’, which would then prompt me to need to explain that it was in fact a delicious, frothy alcoholic beverage, cue raised eyebrows and an evident ‘You’re an alcoholic’ kind-of-look passing across their faces.
Epic, epic fail, my friend.
No, no, no. That’s AWESOME! Let them think what they want. I admire your audacity. Cheers to you!
Great post, made me laugh!
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed
Thanks. I’m glad I could provide a chuckle. Have a great day!
I think thats quite interesting seeing a) how these old ID’s looked because I never saw one and b) the change while you were growing up. Great (:
Thanks for dropping by and for the kind words!
Thanks for all the comments everyone! Wow, first time Freshly Pressed. Yikes!
Wow — how do you still have all these? That’s crazy…but such fun post fodder!
My mom chopped off my long hair when I was 6 years old…into a boy’s bowl cut. Seriously, it was awful … and that day, I was mistaken for a boy when we went out for dinner.
I’ve never had short hair since!
Oh Mikalee, my daughters’ mother did the same thing to them when they were about 3 or 4. They had the same reaction as you and have had beautiful long hair ever since. They still groan about the photos of them with their “boy” cuts (though I have to admit they looked pretty adorable – but that’s just the dad in me).
We get requests to retouch photos for IDs.
Omg the mullet is awesome. You rocked the shiz out of it. I’m impressed, sir.
You just made my day!!
Long hair is so in again for boys now. Congrats on being Freshly Pressed, great post.
Thanks! Yeah, I’ve noticed the long hair thing is all the rage. It reminds me of my older brothers back in the mid-70s. Ha! Appreciate you stopping by!
Yeah, much to younger girls dismay. To me, there is nothing like a nice hair cut and a cleanly shaved face. Adolescent boys always feel that high school and middle school is the time to explore how long they can grow the hair on their head and faces. (sigh)
Oh, you are so right. I have the stringy beard photos from my high school commencement to prove it! Of course, now I have the affectionate rewards of my wife to motivate the clean shaven face!
This is hilarious! My husband has the same birthday and the first two pictures could be him! Thanks for the funny walk back through time!
You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by and tell your husband he was one handsome young man!
Haha!! I love the mullet story! I actually laughed out loud at my desk when I read that.
Ha! Thanks Christy. Glad I could brighten someone’s day at work!
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what a great post- I’ve been doing some similar things myself – more to come!
thanks for sharing!
-grace
http://herumbrella.com
Wonderful! I look forward to it! Thanks for stopping by!
I loved this! It so hits home! I did one about old school papers I found and how they relate to now. check it out, please.
You, sir, are one brave man to post these. I absolutely love it. I’m two years older than you (class of 1982) and I remember the mullet all too well.
It was a classic, wasn’t it?!
I love your post! I kept some of my middle school / high school IDs as well to look back on one day. Diggin’ the mullet that you had haha, it looked nice.
Thanks, Maria!
It’s also interesting to watch your signature evolve over time. I remember consciously trying to come up with a “cool” autograph when I was in third grade. I figured I’d need it, what with my destiny as a world-famous guitar player.
Middle through high school was about ten years later than for you, but being an Indiana hilljack doofus, I also rocked the mullet (or Mudflap, Camaro-cut, Sho-Lo, etc.) for about four of those seven years. My best friend had a Soccer Rocker (permed in back). One kid had a mull-hawk for a while. We were corndogs. Punk rock changed our lives.
Rock on! Yeah, I noticed the signature too. Late bloomer in the autograph department, I guess. Figured my air guitar wasn’t going to put me in demand!
I’m very jealous. I no longer have any of my school IDs. But it’s so nice to see you have them still. Still very jealous.
Sorry… I hope you at least have good memories of them!
There’s a whole tumblr devoted to ID cards at http://www.lostidentities.com !
Sweet. Thanks for the link!
ahhh, the 80′s…..when the coke was good and the hair was bad. you rocked that mullet!
Yes… it was a wild ride, wasn’t it? Thanks, man!
Young lady?
Interesting. Nice ID cards.
Greetings from Ghana.
Delali
http://gadel.info
Thanks, Delali! You’re my first personal greeting from Africa in a while!
Just think. We change so much every year, but for those of us born over four decades ago, we imagine we look the same for the past 20 years.
You’re right…despite photographic evidence to the contrary. There’s an x-files episode in there somewhere.
I don’t know which is better–the photos themselves or the mullet story! Love it!
Thanks, K8!
That was a nice post.
Thanks CC.
Damn man. You’re photogenic. Every time I look at one of my ol’ school ID pics, I barf. :p True story. Perhaps I could blog on that. Why I will never be on any ‘Most Wanted Lists’ because that would require putting up a picture of me and no one will be able to stomach that. Hmm.
Nice post
Ha! Thanks for the compliment and the comment, and yes – I think you’ve got a blog post idea there!
LOL! Mullets!
Yep. Gotta love it. Fortunately there are no pictures of me in my Forenza sweater.
Wow I just clicked on your blog from the wpress homepage, so funny you went to school in Des Moines!! I went to Urbandale! Great story!
The dreaded J-HAWKS from down Aurora Avenue!
I had a lot of friends from Urbandale. I’m sure it wouldn’t take us long to come up with some connections! Thanks, Lauren!
What a lovely post! reminds me of my childhood and how I got changed over time!
Thanks, Muhammad! I appreciate the nice comment.
Being punk over time
Don’t mind I was just joking around
No wonder that’s a nice concept for a post. I liked it very much.
Thanks!
I did one about old school papers I found and how they relate to now.
I just had a friend request to read my senior thesis from college. He was interested in the subject. I pulled it out and found it fascinating to read 20 years later.
I laughed out loud when I read about the “young lady” comment. Thank you for sharing! Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed
Glad to provide a laugh, P&P. Thanks!
You were SO cute! You didn’t seem to go through the ugly, awkward phase many of us had to endure.
Thanks, Lindsay. I felt pretty ugly and awkward at the time, but didn’t we all?
Agreed. You did seem to get through pretty unscathed.
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You look like my Homecoming date from Sophomore year in your 82-83 photo. He was cute! Granted I was born in 84 so I guess that would have been frowned upon for you to accompany me to Homecoming in 1999. I just blogged about the more colorful signatures from my yearbooks and this reminded me of it!
Ha! Well, I hope it was a good date! Yes, it would have been a little awkward had you brought a 33 year old date to Homecoming, but think about what a great blog post THAT would have made twelve years later!! Thanks, Miss MM!
It’s made me get my school group pics out as we didn’t have ID’s. You were a good looking man! LOL Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the compliment, and for stopping by!
I don’t use LOL but I have to for your story. I had a horrible bowl cross bob hair cut my dad gave me before high school started which made me look like a boy. I’m sure a few people thought I was one, even though my name is Olivia
Sounds like a good blog post – “Haircuts our Parents Gave Us.” Thanks for stopping by Olivia!
Hahaha!! It is a nice memory!! young lady!! You have a good habit to keep such old items for such a long time.
nice post!
Thanks for paying a visit and for the nice comment!
I have to say, and I think most people agree, that middle school was the awkward years for all of us. I probably spent three years looking like a was growing out an awful haircut (shiver)
For me the awkwardness in junior high was not the haircut (although it is a bit on the wild side) but the fact that I was a head shorter than most of the girls who liked me!
I like looking back at my passports… the combination of changing photos and the fun in looking at where I was then (literally) is very cool. This is very sweet.
Congrats on having enough stamps in the passport to have so many memories. My passport stamps are far too few! Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Tom, that’s an absolutely great post !
You were a handsome young boy. I can see you growing up! This gave me an idea to start preserving my 5-year old’s ID’s. I am already regretting throwing away the first one from last year.
By all means, you should! Those are exactly the kind of thing your child will want to pull out to compare and share with their children someday. Thanks for stopping by!
That’s hilarious! And you look very good in all your photos.
I would die before showing anyone mine!!
Thanks for the kind words, and for stopping by to leave a comment.
“Why thank you young lady”
Hilarious!
I know. Classic, isn’t it? Thanks for checking out the post.
You obviously had a star quality judging from those photos. Haha. And I love the inconsistency of your signature. It apparently went through some transformation as well. ;p
Ha! Thanks. Funny you should say that. I did have the experience of being in movie my sophomore year (I made IMDB!). The signature did continue to transform, as well – though the senior signature is pretty close to what it is today.
Now, I wanna goo find my old shool IDs and write a similar entry.
)
By all means, you should! Your family and friends will love it.
Now, I wanna go find my old school IDs and write a similar entry.
)
Too funny!
*lol*
lol…i just hope that though u have grown up to a man rom a kid but still u have the same child’s innocence somewhere hidden…..
Thanks for the encouragement. I’ve worked hard to keep my inner child well nurtured! It is hidden, but sometimes makes brief public appearances.
*from
ha ha ha you’re really funny
Thanks. You’re really nice!
Funny post.
Must be tough for you to be mistaken as a lady. 
It was a blow to the teen-age male psyche for sure, but I’m happy to say left no lasting emotional damage! Thanks for stopping by!
What a great story! And what a master you are of the short, sweet, and to the point post. Thanks for sharing the ID’s – would that we all held on to our grey-less hair, and our unlined faces. I’d dig my own ID’s out, yet I already know they show my progression through late-80′s, early-90′s high fashion, consisting of ever higher bangs and electric blue eyeliner. You’ve taken me on a trip down my own memory lane, simply by reading. Thank you!
Glad I could send you on the journey, and thank you for the kind words.
Having just gone through all my old teenage years memorabilia, this makes me smile. It’s a strange thing, photography is incredible.
It is incredible, isn’t it? Some of my favorite photos are of great-grandparents and family members I never knew, but the photo capture them and a moment in time that I somehow get to share through the photograph. Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.
Yeah, I try to imagine life without photography and it really must have been all about the stories and the objects that helped tell that story. It must have given people such a wealth of heritage once photography got on it’s way.
love the blog, I just started one with kind of the same idea… any advice would be greatly appreciated
Congrats and best wishes on your own blogging journey. Be simple. Be sincere. Be honest. Be kind. You’ll do great!
I am very happy that you saved these. Now you just need to mail them to me while I find other people with old school IDs and then I can wallpaper my laundry room in style!
Whoa! Being on your laundry room wall paper would be the ultimate. Feel free to save and print as necessary!
What a fun post! Illustrating your growth through your IDs was really cool.
The gentleman’s comment reminded me of a few years ago when I got a haircut with different layers than my usual. A friend of mine said, “Wow! You look like an 80′s rockstar!” That night I literally had nightmares that I had a mullet. The very next day, I got the cut fixed.
Congrats on being FPed!
Ha! What a nightmare!! Were you wearing leather pants? Leg warmers? A ripped sweatshirt hanging over your shoulder or an Izod with the collar turned up?
Thanks for stopping by!
great post. a girl at work goes out with a boy i used to go to school with and is threatening to bring in my yearbook. brilliant!!
Nice! A blog post waiting to happen! Thanks for paying me a visit.
Thank you for sharing your story with us, it was great and I enjoyed reading it. It really is fun looking at how much your life (and your looks) have changed over the years.
And thanks again for sharing your story! Cheers
You’re welcome. And, thank you for stopping by!
it’s always great fun to find one of these. to find all of them – duble great fun
love it! i saved all mine too. although i don’t know that i’d ever publicly post them…you’re brave. i was a bit of a trainwreck from about 5th grade to my junior year of high school. frizzy hair and bad clothes. fun stuff.
http://www.icouldntmakethisshitup.wordpress.com
The good news, Eva, is that you were not alone in the “train wreck” years! I don’t know if I would call myself “brave.” “Shameless” might be a better adjective! Thanks for stopping by!
i always like looking back at old school photos, even the not so flattering ones.
Yeah, there’s something fun about it, isn’t there? Thanks for taking the time to comment!
I have 4 kids and 3 of them are in their teens. My oldest child will turn 17 at the end of the month..it makes me think WTH?? WHere DID the time go?? I can’t wait to see what she’ll look like 25 yrs from now when her 25th high school reunion come around. Enjoyed your post
Haha this is so interesting! You should’ve put your new IDs
Wonderful post and keep it up.
I’ve grown to appreciate the transformations from then to now ID photos depicts. The pictures were usually spontaneous. In my teens I use to tear up old pictures, because, I never taught I looked good enough in them. Thank God, gone are those days.
Thank God, indeed! Thanks for sharing.
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LOL…. now I know when someone opens the door for me, I’ll just say “Thank you.” and not add “Miss” or “Sir” or whatever.
I might assume a man to be a lady LOL
Hah, I have the same experience and despite growing out my hair just for this particular reason, I still get called “sir” all the time. It’s given me a complex. ;D
Interesting post. I find the progression in signatures as notable as the physical changes.
Thanks, Madison. I just checked out your blog and discovered you’ve just started it. You’re off to a great start. Keep it up!
Hi ,
I want to buy these IDs, wow first bid is 5$ greate post
Hi i have similar problem that every year my face has change and variation have comes in my body i m very upset , because when i wan in University then i have fall in love but at that time my face is in black stage so i have lose , this years my face is middle white but i know next year is completely black just like dark color
My husband has his college in our top bathroom drawer. Not sure how that drawer became it’s home, but I chuckle when I see it. His student number is his social security number printed across the top of the car. Ah the old days.
I think you still look like you. I have saved my IDs for over 10 years so I have them spanning from 18 when I started college to age 30…..ok so maybe 12 years!
And I just heard the transformers tune.
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