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Alma Matters

As of last week, it's been fifteen years since I graduated high school. Coincidentally, a couple of weeks ago, I went back to my alma mater to film a band concert for my father's company. Walking around the halls, there were parts I had not been around since I graduated. I saw the band hall I spent so much of my time in before school, during school, and on the weekends. And seeing the hallway between the hall and the auditorium (and the cafeteria next to it), lots of memories came back.

They were good memories, thankfully.

I remembered the spots in the cafeteria where I tried out for talent show. I remembered seeing flyers for bands who were playing at Numbers and Fitzgerald's. And I remembered all the times I was in the auditorium, whether it was playing trumpet in concert band, doing a drum solo/duet, or singing with a thrown-together band.

This is the kind of stuff that defined my high school experience, and that's what I'm trying to document in When We Were the Kids. I came back to Dallas with a couple of things to add to the manuscript (very small things, like the capacity of the school auditorium). Experiencing this, along with what I've experienced in the last eight months, I feel ready to share this story with anyone who wants to read it.

For the past nine years, I've been writing books. When I look ahead at what's possibly next, I'm not sure if I'll write another book for a while. I can't say I'm ruling the option out. If the drive and hunger is there in a story that I want to tell, then I'll make time to write it. I feel like I'm entering a new phase in my life, but I want to keep writing. If and when I have something to put together in book form, then this will be the first place you'll hear about it.

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