The black and white books of my generation pale in contrast to the full-color books of today. Technology and new, fresh ideas make my era's yearbooks look like something out of a time capsule. But there's one thing that hasn't changed through the years ... the yearbook signatures.

In years past, as I invaded my boys' privacy by reading the messages of their classmates, I was reminded of similar scribblings in my books some 35 years ago. It seems like only yesterday:

"Sure was fun having you in English. I hope we will always be friends." —Pat

Pat? Pat who?

"Chemistry wouldn't have been the same without you." —Cathi

Yeah, maybe I would have gotten a better grade!

"To a great friend. You were almost as dumb in civics as I was." —George

George? No, it couldn't be ...

When I snooped in my sons' books, I discovered that kids are writing the same yearbook notes in this generation as they were in the '60s.

Someone wrote in one of their books, "Good luck in football next year," and someone else wrote, "Well, we survived another year."

But the one that really got me was the message that said, "Have a cool summer."

Cool? My God, it was a line straight out of my seventh grade annual of 1962!

Browsing through their full-color yearbooks of the 1990s gave me the urge to go back a few decades and pull out those old black and white books of the '60s, blow off the dust and carefully open the pages (and, no, the pages are not yellow and brittle!).

Now, I don't get the old yearbooks out too often. In fact, the last time I can remember pulling one out was back in '87 ... the night before the 20-year high school reunion. Just wanted to brush up on a few names, if you know what I mean.

So I took a look back into those pages to recall the days when we had our youth, our health and our hair.

It's strange, but I can still remember where to find all of my pictures in my senior book. But while the pictures are memorable, it's those notes from classmates that are most special (maybe because, unlike in the books of today, the word "dude" doesn't appear once!).

It's a funny thing about those 35-year-old messages that classmates scribbled in our books without much thought and without much effort. Many are signed by people we simply can't recall, but some of them still stir a twinge of emotion three decades later. Call it nostalgia, call it memories.

One girl that I must admit I don't remember wrote, "I think I'll always remember the spare pencil behind your ear."

And it's still there.

A teammate on the swim team wrote, "To a guy who could easily beat Mark Spitz."

Yeah, at least until we hit the water.

But one girl named Donna seemed to say it best, and she probably didn't even realize it at the time.

"Well, sport, your name will always remain in my memory. Well, at least until next year."

Donna, you were wise beyond your years.

Want to talk? Call me at 408.354.3110, ext. 31, or drop me a note at dsparrer@svcn.com.