Look back to that first really big crush you had in high school. Not the “I like them” type, but the one that made you sit and daydream about “if only”. The one you were slow to tell any of your friends about because you weren’t ready to admit it to anyone, maybe not even yourself. You know, the one you may have actually imagined being married to. Do you have them pictured in your mind? Now, look at who you married, (some of us may have to bring to mind two or more) and answer a question. How close are they? Are the one (ones) who came later anything like that first one that really go your mind racing?
Now look back at the way you dressed? Do you still dress the same? I’m not necessarily talking fashions because that constantly changes; although there maybe someone out there still walking around in bellbottom pants. What I’m talking about is the way you dressed more than what you wore. Did you use to dress up a lot? Sometimes? Do you still do that? Were you a jeans person back then and not so much now, or is it more vice versa?
Okay, this time look back at your hair. Do you style it the same way now as you did back then? I’m sure it looks at least a little different, greyer or maybe a little less of it, but is it still close to what it was at graduation.
How about your car? I know there’s been a lot of changes in cars, but is the type or style at least the same? Or have you branched off to a truck, jeep, or SUV? Maybe you zip around in a sporty little something or other. I could be wrong, but I’m assuming it’s at least not a standard transmission anymore, even if it was back then. There is something laborious about shifting gears these days.
Has the food change? I’m willing to bet it has. There are tons more eating places now than there was back then. Even if you still eat at home a lot, I think it’s a good bet your menu choices have expanded a good deal too. I am also willing to bet that if it’s just you and your spouse left at home, you both either fix dinner together and/or you don’t sit at the table all that much. You probably balance your dinner on your knee while you’re watching TV or maybe out on the porch or deck or patio.
I guess the point to all this is how much have you changed? Not all changes are obvious when you look at someone. Have you always considered yourself a democrat or a republican, or have you waffled because this or that person was running for this or that office? Do you go to church more or less now than you did back then? Are you happy? I will also bet that dying crosses your mind more now than it did back when it seemed like we were all invincible.
I guess in a way I’m answer all the questions myself, but I’m also betting that you may be very different in some ways, but overall, you’re still the same person I knew way back when.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
The Reunion
In a word, the reunion was great. The location was good, the food was good and the company was excellent. Everybody looked great. There were some I recognized right away, others took a minute or two, and there were some I simply had no idea who they were. I'm sure they looked at me the same way.
They set up pictures for the basketball team, football team and those who went to each feeder school. The music was mostly played low enough we could visit and chat and there was even a few who danced a little, including the Electric Slide and the Macarena, and no, it wasn't me.
Simply put, if you didn't come you missed something. I honestly believe that everyone there had a great time, too.
Could it have been better? You betcha! More people could have shown up. That really was all that was missing. I heard a comment someone made about not coming because they didn't "live in the past". Well, neither do I, nor does anyone I know. We've all got way too much to do and worry about to live that way. In fact, nobody this side of a psychiatric ward lives in the past. However, I do embrace my past, and I firmly believe by not doing so I can't keep my goals in line or learn from my mistakes.
I also can't deny the years I spent in high school, either the good or the bad. So I look forward to seeing old friends. Particularly those I spent the 4 most important years of my life with. Besides, I don't have so many friends that I can afford to lose any.
Lastly, the committee did a wonderful job. They put in the hours to make sure everything was covered, and it was. The Friday night football game was a gem of an idea and something we could not have done if they had stuck to the June date. Personally I think any future reunions should include one when possible. My hat is off to each of you.
Good luck and good health to everyone until we meet again.
They set up pictures for the basketball team, football team and those who went to each feeder school. The music was mostly played low enough we could visit and chat and there was even a few who danced a little, including the Electric Slide and the Macarena, and no, it wasn't me.
Simply put, if you didn't come you missed something. I honestly believe that everyone there had a great time, too.
Could it have been better? You betcha! More people could have shown up. That really was all that was missing. I heard a comment someone made about not coming because they didn't "live in the past". Well, neither do I, nor does anyone I know. We've all got way too much to do and worry about to live that way. In fact, nobody this side of a psychiatric ward lives in the past. However, I do embrace my past, and I firmly believe by not doing so I can't keep my goals in line or learn from my mistakes.
I also can't deny the years I spent in high school, either the good or the bad. So I look forward to seeing old friends. Particularly those I spent the 4 most important years of my life with. Besides, I don't have so many friends that I can afford to lose any.
Lastly, the committee did a wonderful job. They put in the hours to make sure everything was covered, and it was. The Friday night football game was a gem of an idea and something we could not have done if they had stuck to the June date. Personally I think any future reunions should include one when possible. My hat is off to each of you.
Good luck and good health to everyone until we meet again.
Friday, August 13, 2010
It's About Time
This will most likely be my last update before the reunion, so here’s hoping everyone shows up and we have a whiz-bang time.
It’s been almost 4 years since we started doing this and in a way, it seems that it has taken a long time for the reunion to get here, while in other ways time has zipped past. They say that happens with age.
I am anxious to see everyone, especially the regulars on here. I know everyone has changed over the years, but that’s okay. I know that Brenda still has the same smile she did 40 years ago, Kathey is still quiet and a bit shy, Donna has that mischievous sparkle in her eye and Tony still hasn’t met a stranger. I do have to admit though, that finding out Sylvia has a Harley was a bit of a surprise, but it also fits her personality. Anyway, all of that is what counts. Not looks, not riches, not position or title.
There is one or two that I didn’t have much association with, but what the heck. The more the merrier. And besides, other spouses are coming, like Bruce Blankenship, Willard McCloud and Janice Hughes Kelso, all of who I either knew or had classes with. Also, Kay Collis Gordon’s husband, Ken is coming and I know him from Memphis.
So all in all, I think it will be a very good night. How can it miss?
It’s been almost 4 years since we started doing this and in a way, it seems that it has taken a long time for the reunion to get here, while in other ways time has zipped past. They say that happens with age.
I am anxious to see everyone, especially the regulars on here. I know everyone has changed over the years, but that’s okay. I know that Brenda still has the same smile she did 40 years ago, Kathey is still quiet and a bit shy, Donna has that mischievous sparkle in her eye and Tony still hasn’t met a stranger. I do have to admit though, that finding out Sylvia has a Harley was a bit of a surprise, but it also fits her personality. Anyway, all of that is what counts. Not looks, not riches, not position or title.
There is one or two that I didn’t have much association with, but what the heck. The more the merrier. And besides, other spouses are coming, like Bruce Blankenship, Willard McCloud and Janice Hughes Kelso, all of who I either knew or had classes with. Also, Kay Collis Gordon’s husband, Ken is coming and I know him from Memphis.
So all in all, I think it will be a very good night. How can it miss?
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Work
There are obviously a lot of differences between the way the world is now and the way it was when I was a kid. Some things are as different as night and day. One of those differences is in what was expected of us. Today we push our kids and grandkids to succeed, to get ahead. Forty years ago, a Bachelor’s Degree was the exception, now it’s the rule. To set themselves apart from everyone else they have to get at least a Master’s or have a specialized degree. Forty years ago, interests were still more basic – like, how to live. It was still acceptable to quit school as soon as you were 16 so you could “go to work” and either set out on your own or supplement the family income. I came close to doing just that.
I started working for a wage at 14, and I was far from being the only one. There were at least a dozen guys on nearly every work crew I was on, and they were in the same situation as me. Before that it was whatever I could find and wherever I could find it. We weren’t starving, but there were no extras. If you wanted anything special, you worked for it. Later on, I would work to pay my way through high school.
As a small kid, you could run errands for some of the store owners downtown. Rarely did you get money; you got a treat instead. But at that age, an ice cream cone or cherry coke was always welcome. Around the same time, my older brother got me to help him sell newspapers. So on Sunday morning we stood beside Tic Toc’s, trying to sell the Knoxville paper to people traveling through on Highway 11, and they would usually buy their paper from the smallest kid, so my brother knew what he was doing. For my 3 or 4 hours of work, he gave me a whole 50 cents.
After you got older you tried to get your own paper route, but there were only couple in the entire town and they were taken, so you turned to mowing yards. There were two situations here, either they would provide the mower or you had to find a way to get one to use. Heaven forbid you got one that was hard to crank. After about half an hour of trying to start it, you gave up. For a normal sized yard you could get 75 cents to a dollar. If it was a really big yard, you could actually get 5 dollars, but it took you all day to do the one yard.
Next, you kept your ear open for any farmers who might be looking for help, especially around hay baling time. It was hard, hard work. I wasn’t all that big and it was all I could do to get a bail up to the wagon. I would grab it with my hands and then use my right thigh to push it up to the wagon. I went through a pair of jeans one year doing that.
Next, came a real job. It was called the Neighborhood Youth Corp. I think we started out at $1.25 an hour or something like that. During the school year, we worked at school. During the summer, we worked for the City Department. Mostly I cleared weeds and brush from ditches and river banks, and got to be a terror with a swing sicle or a briar scythe. I also worked the garbage truck for awhile and worked on the paving crew for a time, too. I helped build the road that runs beside the high school. It wasn’t much help, but I like to think I had a hand in it.
Then I jumped all the way to Maremont. That was really good money. I was finally making a grown up’s wage. It lasted until November, 1970 when the draft convinced me to join the Air Force. I made about half as much starting out in there as I made at Maremont.
If I have any regret, it is the time I missed socializing in high school. It’s not a regret I can’t live with and it has never really cost me any sleep, but it would have been nice to have had a few more memories of that “growing up” time of my life.
I started working for a wage at 14, and I was far from being the only one. There were at least a dozen guys on nearly every work crew I was on, and they were in the same situation as me. Before that it was whatever I could find and wherever I could find it. We weren’t starving, but there were no extras. If you wanted anything special, you worked for it. Later on, I would work to pay my way through high school.
As a small kid, you could run errands for some of the store owners downtown. Rarely did you get money; you got a treat instead. But at that age, an ice cream cone or cherry coke was always welcome. Around the same time, my older brother got me to help him sell newspapers. So on Sunday morning we stood beside Tic Toc’s, trying to sell the Knoxville paper to people traveling through on Highway 11, and they would usually buy their paper from the smallest kid, so my brother knew what he was doing. For my 3 or 4 hours of work, he gave me a whole 50 cents.
After you got older you tried to get your own paper route, but there were only couple in the entire town and they were taken, so you turned to mowing yards. There were two situations here, either they would provide the mower or you had to find a way to get one to use. Heaven forbid you got one that was hard to crank. After about half an hour of trying to start it, you gave up. For a normal sized yard you could get 75 cents to a dollar. If it was a really big yard, you could actually get 5 dollars, but it took you all day to do the one yard.
Next, you kept your ear open for any farmers who might be looking for help, especially around hay baling time. It was hard, hard work. I wasn’t all that big and it was all I could do to get a bail up to the wagon. I would grab it with my hands and then use my right thigh to push it up to the wagon. I went through a pair of jeans one year doing that.
Next, came a real job. It was called the Neighborhood Youth Corp. I think we started out at $1.25 an hour or something like that. During the school year, we worked at school. During the summer, we worked for the City Department. Mostly I cleared weeds and brush from ditches and river banks, and got to be a terror with a swing sicle or a briar scythe. I also worked the garbage truck for awhile and worked on the paving crew for a time, too. I helped build the road that runs beside the high school. It wasn’t much help, but I like to think I had a hand in it.
Then I jumped all the way to Maremont. That was really good money. I was finally making a grown up’s wage. It lasted until November, 1970 when the draft convinced me to join the Air Force. I made about half as much starting out in there as I made at Maremont.
If I have any regret, it is the time I missed socializing in high school. It’s not a regret I can’t live with and it has never really cost me any sleep, but it would have been nice to have had a few more memories of that “growing up” time of my life.
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