It is my niece, Becca. She gave me this badge and I wore it for months. I loved it because she cared enough to give it to me. Her mom was furious because she gave it to me instead of to her. I offered to give it back but she told me to go ahead and keep it because "obviously she wants you to have it." 
I was on my beloved 100 acres one day and I decided to go to my car to get my duffle bag. Well I was already naked because I was going to take a shower and it didn't matter because I was in the middle of 100 acres by myself. When I got in my car I decided to move it to a more advantageous spot to leave. I figured why move it later when I can move it now. The easiest way to turn it around was to drive it down the hill and turn around beside the main road. So that is what I did.
Unfortunately for me the car got stuck in the mud. Here I was sitting beside the main road with my car stuck in the mud and I was buck naked. 
It was 3:00 pm and school buses were going by and all the traffic that goes with them. There were no clothes in the car or blankets or cover of any kind. It was hot that day and I sat there with the heat building up inside of the car because I didn't want to roll down the windows because somebody would see me.
Finally I saw my chance. There was a break in traffic. I threw open the door and started running for the woods. I couldn't run up the road because you could see to the top of the hill from the road. I had to hit the woods. Right when I hit the woods a car rounded the curve. 
I don't know if it saw me but I do know that running up a mountain in bare feet(and body) is not a fun thing. The ground was full of rocks and briars and all sorts of painful things to hurt my tender skin.
I learned my lesson. I never drove my car naked again!
In high school I ran around with a group of 13 girls. We were collectively known as "The Gang". Among ourselves we were the "Slut Club". We were the "Slut Club" because that is the exact opposite of what we actually were. We were the biggest group of bookworm, high achievers to probably grace the halls of Logan High School. None of us ever skipped a day of school and rarely did we get in any kind of trouble. You know, just average kids.
Can I remember their names?
1. Pam - me- greyhound trainer
2. Sami - corporate attorney
3. Suzanne - ballet dancer/massage therapist
4. Bella - nurse
5. Delana - teacher, married her high school sweetheart whom she fell in love with in biology class when he wouldn't stop writing on her arm.
6. Cindy - mother, home schooling her kids, singer, very religious
7. Mary Ruth - I don't know
8. Gina - I don't know
9. Gina - I don't know (yes, there were 2 Gina's)
10. Liz - teacher (she hated me)
11.Kristie - married while still in high school, pregnant, we were all so shocked by this.
We all attended her hastily planned marriage. When it came time to catch the bouquet Sami and I were hiding in the back of the crowd completely horrified that we were being forced to participate in such a barbaric custom. We weren't even paying attention when all of a sudden - FWACK!!! - the bouquet hit Sami solidly in her ample bustline. Then it fell to the floor. Sami and I just looked at each other and then at the bouquet thinking "what are we going to do now?" We decided to present it to Kristie to keep as a memento of her wedding. I guarantee you that Kristie treasured her bouquet much more than Sami would have. She would have thrown it away as soon as she got home.
12. Andy (short for Andrea) - works in hospital
13. Yvea - wannabe actress - last I heard she landed a doctor.
Amazingly enough alot of people form high school still recognize me even though I have gained over 100 pounds. The hair is basically the same - maybe that's it.
My friends and I would carpool everywhere together in that car. Sometimes there would be so many of us 
that they would be piggyback on each others lap just to fit. We looked like the opening to "The 70's Show" most of the time.
Everyday on the way home from school we would pool our money for gas (gas was 78 cents a gallon back then) and I would drop everybody off while doing whatever "necessary" errands we had on the way. We went to the movies and skating and shopping and all the places that teenage girls need to go.
When I graduated my dad gave me the car officially. This surprised me because I thought the car was already mine. I was still happy. I used the car to go back and forth to Ohio State, burning up the highways everywhere I went. (the thing handled like a racecar!) When I came home for the summer my intention was to transfer to Marshall University in the fall. That didn't happen.
My dad kicked me out during a huge family blowout and took the car back. He returned it a few days later. A couple of months later, I got in trouble for driving the getaway car in a robbery. 
My parents took the car back again. Then I was married a year later. They gave me the same little red toyota back for a wedding present. That car actually saved them a fortune in money for presents for me.
I loved that car. Bobby and I drove it until it rusted apart. The engine was still good, so I sold it to somebody that actually used it to race on a dirt track. Back then the body of a toyota would disintegrate long before the engine went out. I remember one day I was driving along and my hood flew up and hit my windshield. 
Fortunately I managed to stop the car without wrecking. I went to the front of the car to see what had happened. The hood latch was actually still latched. All around it though the metal had corroded so the hood had separated from the latch.
I saw a car just like it in the early 90's on a trip to Florida one time. My car was worth much more than it was, but I was so tempted to get that driver to pull over and trade me even on the spot. I think it would have been worth it.
All of my nieces and nephews learned the meaning of that phrase from me. I am a wonderful aunt and without fail they used to run to me and tell me the woes of being a child of their respective parents. As they would whine to me about their complete list of injustices commited by mom or dad or both they would look to me for support and ask "why, do I have to suffer so much?" - or some such variation of the question.
My reply without fail was always, "it builds character." I said it so often that the kids would usually answer their own question with sing/song sarcasm "I know, it builds character."
Now that they are older I intend to ask them how they feel about all the character building their parents engaged in. I bet it gets a laugh.
This is a picture of Bobby and I on our 13th. anniversary. I left him just a few months later on Friday the 13th. I never gave any particular significance to the number before then. This is the first time I have seen the picture since then. (1995)
