For about two solid years, I had an ongoing crush on Amy Lupini. Of all of the crushes I had had up to that point, Amy was the one that lasted the longest, and one of the many I never landed. Even still, I completely cherish the friendship that I had with her during my fifth and sixth grade years (in which she is seen in the class photo at right). There is no way that I could possibly have felt rejected, considering I never had the guts to tell her how I felt or put forth a request that she ‘go with’ me. So I stood by and idly watched as she went with Jason Painter in the fifth grade and my best friend Eric Welch in the sixth. Sigh. The love lessons we learned in grade school…
When Amy came to Fairbrook in the fall of 1982, she was a military implant who had previously lived in Kansas and Alaska. With her long brown hair, smoldering eyes, and braces, I was fortunate to have her in not only my homeroom class taught by Mrs. Owens, but also as a fellow member of B.E.L.L. – the Beavercreek Elementary Learning Laboratory. This was the special class held on Mondays for the so-called ‘gifted’ kids who needed a little extra challenge over and beyond their daily class work. So not only was Amy quite the looker, she was exceptionally smart.
And most importantly, she was a very nice girl. I considered her a good friend for both years, even being invited to her co-ed birthday party where I proudly presented her with the cassette tape of Lional Richie’s Can’t Slow Down. We pretty much ran in the same circles during our school day which contained such friends as Rob Bradford, Lisa Baker, Eric Welch, Allison Arnold, Jason Painter, Mike Sparks, and Ronnie Reid. It was because of this group of friends that I have such fond remembrances of this time period of my life.
My crush began to subside as we moved on into junior high, but I still remained friends with Amy, particularly during my English and Reading classes taught by Mrs. Schmidt at Ankeney. But gradually, we begin to not share as many classes and by high school, I have very little memory of running into Amy much at all. And after graduation, twenty years passed and we never once saw each other that I recall.
Amy’s 7th grade picture
Needless to say, I was thrilled that Amy showed up at the 20-year Beavercreek High School reunion on Saturday, July 14, 2010. I saw her right away as we lined up to get into the banquet room. She still sparkled. Although I spent lots of time talking to lots of friends that night, I made sure that I got in as much time as I could chatting with Amy. She currently lives in Columbus with her husband and two boys.
With Amy at the BHS 20-year reunion
It always amazes me that time seems to be transcended at reunions like this. Although we weren’t really friends during high school, we could immediately be taken back to the Fairbrook days with the shared memories of when we first met. Now one day, we’ll have to get together to sit down and watch that horrendous video entitled “PIG Mag” that we made during our B.E.L.L. class…
With Lisa Baker and Amy Lupini, absolute icons of my grade school past
Return to the 20-year BHS reunion…
Continue to the next reunion…
Well Brad I am flattered to think that I had a secret admirer back at Fairbrook. What a blast from the past to remember those days at Fairbrook and the crowd we ran around with especially the boys I “went with”. How funny. It was great to see you at the reunion too. I would love to catch “Pig Mag” again sometime. I’m amazed that you can remember so much from so long ago. Take care-
Amy
Amy
October 4th, 2010