The Roller Coaster

There are lots of metaphors used for the years we spent in high school -- the end of childhood.. becoming an adult.. the wonder years.. the fun years -- and the list goes on.

I tend to look at them as the "roller coaster years". Can you think of any other period in your life where you went from happy to sad, or from nirvana to deep, dark depression, and at times all in a matter of minutes?

And as bad as it got, when you thought you didn't want to do anything or be with anybody, within a day or so you were on your way back up, or, when you reached the top you were so emotionally high you felt like you were walking off the ground and nothing could burst your balloon, but eventually something did.

Then, to top all that, it didn't have to be a certain person, or situation, or group, or class, or anything else. Any one of them could be the catalyst or the suppressant.

What a wonderfully bittersweet time of life it was.

The Years Had Names

Have you ever wondered why the years in high school were named the way they were? I know, it's worthless information, but that's the kind of stuff that gnaws at me sometimes and sends me scurrying around the internet.

Obviously, freshman means someone in their first year, or fresh at what they're doing. Different parts of the world refer to them under different, usually derogatory nicknames like "fish", "fresher", "frosh", "newbie", "freshie", "snotter" or "fresh-meat". I'm sure glad nobody called me that name next to the last.

Sophomore in folklore terms means "wise fool", or comes from the Greek "sophos", meaning "wise", and "moros" meaning "foolish". And if you think about it that makes a little sense considering how we pushed out our chests and bosted we weren't freshman anymore.

Junior and senior are a little more obvious. Since senior is the last year, junior is the year under that since a junior comes after a senior, just like it does when someone is named after someone elss. In some parts of the country someone taking 5 years to graduate is called a "super senior". I'm not sure about you but that sounds a little too positive than the name I would use.

Family

As I said in the last post my son Christopher graduated last Friday. For 4 glorious days I was lucky enough to have all my kids and grandkids together for the first time in a very, very long time. I can't remember when I was so happy. I sometimes just sat and listened to my boys talking sports while my grandkids played games. Such a sweet noise that left the house sound so empty when they all had gone back to their homes.

It put my mind on family and when I last saw this brother or sister or cousin, and it also brought to mind you guys too. We were a family of a sort you know. If you look up family in your trusty Funk and Wagnel's, one of it's meanings is... "an association of people who share common beliefs or activities." That was us, right?

We had different parts of our family just like most families do. We had the kind aunt or uncle and the crazy brother who is always carrying on and joking around and the doting mother or father. We had parts of our family we were proud of and others that were a little embarrassing. Our family shared intimate secrets with us or boasted about us or even threatened to kick our butts if we didn't straighten up. We loved some of them a little more than others and even kept our distance from others, but they were still part of the family. I'll let you decide who fit those particular "roles" for you.

So our family, which was made up of a hundred and twenty something different parts, made it through that stage of our lives, and they should at least be able to get together from time to time, right?. I will tell you this much, the evening I spent recently with my "sisters", Donna, Brenda, Kathey, Sylvia and Pat, meant a lot to me and was a lot of fun. I can't wait for the next time.

Graduation

Tomorrow my youngest son Christopher graduates from high school and I have mixed feelings. I'm proud of him, and he will be starting college in August, so he's well on his way to making his mark. I'm also a little sad. He came along just as I was finishing up my Air Force career, and I probably bonded with him more than with any of the others. For months after I retired he and I did everything, and went everywhere, together. He made the transition into civilian life a lot easier for me.

This mixture of strong feelings made me realize what my folks must have been thinking when I graduated. It did not occur to me then that they were feeling anything. They didn't show it. Did your parents? Did we sell our folks short in that department? We knew it was going to be a major change for us, but did we ever consider it might be for them too? If your family was like mine they probably made jokes about it, but now I wonder if the jokes were meant to mask other feelings.

It amazes me that I can still gain a touch more respect for someone who has passed, but I have.