Good morning! It’s a typical August morning here, the start of another warm day in the lowcountry, and our power went out about an hour ago. There isn’t a storm around, and I didn’t hear sirens close by due to a car accident, the power just went out – and it is very quiet – no AC on, no fridge buzzing. I hear birds singing, neighbor dogs barking, and my own dogs snoring on the couch by me. So, it’s the perfect time to do a bit of musing.
We are getting to the mid point of the month and I have seen on Facebook that some kids are heading back to school already. Our local schools start up next week. It just always seems too early to me when schools open their doors in August. I grew up with the week of Labor Day in September as when we all went back. Labor Day weekend was the official last weekend/holiday of the summer.
As schools start back, the gun violence and mass shootings are in my thoughts. I have seen on tv that bulletproof backpacks are a popular seller and I really don’t blame parents for wanting to do anything they can do to protect their kids. Unfortunately, schools have banned backpacks to be carried class to class, so they will sit in cloakrooms or lockers, and they may not be as ‘protective’ as they could be. How about bulletproof vests for students?? I say that half joking, but half serious. It’s such a crazy and sad time in our country where we worry about the safety of our children in schools, because gun use, especially high caliber automatic weapons, is a ‘freedom’ that overrides anything else.
Lately I have been thinking about my youth. The other day I was driving home here and I had a flashback to when I was driving ‘home’ to my first apartment, as a young adult. A feeling came over me of how wonderful that felt back then, to have my own place and my own car. I had a full time job in radio that I loved, and I was self-sufficient. I was right out of college and ‘making it.’ I had good friends, and a local hangout, and I enjoyed that whole time in my life. Sometimes when I think back on it it seems like yesterday, but then I think about everything I have done and experienced since then, all the years of ‘wonder’ I have had – and it does seem like a long time ago. I was a person not knowing what laid ahead, but I wasn’t worried. I don’t think I ever seriously worried about my future. Blindly going along has it’s advantages! Ha!
I have ‘friended’ on Facebook a whole group of people from my small town high school. The 45th year reunion for my class (class of ‘74) was just held and I saw pictures of the ‘kids’ I knew back then. In a group shot I was able to pick out a few immediately – they still had the same look. Some though I could not identify and had to look at their names – to put the face with it. There is an active core group in the class and they still live in the town. Some have never left.
I admit, yes, I have done a bit of ‘creeping’ and snooping on Facebook – and looked on their personal pages to see ‘how they turned out.’ Married? kids and now grandkids? Jobs? It’s interesting to see how those ‘kids’ turned out. And, thankfully, I can say I saw many happy stories.
Power back on! Yay! But I will keep musing for a few minutes…
Back to my younger days: I have also recently been thinking about places I have lived. The high school class I mentioned above keeps me on their list and I am happy about it, because I didn’t graduate with them. My dad, a pastor, accepted a call to a new church, in a new state, right before my senior year of high school. Sounds like a pretty rotten thing to do, right? Perhaps. But I don’t think I was ever upset about the timing of the move. I accepted change and I wasn’t largely afraid of new experiences. I guess that was a ‘heads up’ to my personality and then how my life as an adult would go. Since then I have moved many times. I have lived on the East coast and the West coast. I once lived in a ‘spot’ (you can’t even call it a town) out in the wilds of very rural California. One day I looked out my front door and saw wild horses run by! The ‘spot’ had a crossroads intersection with the post office and one little grocery store. I looked one direction and saw the mountains. The other way were the ‘golden’ (dry) hot hills. I have also lived in suburbia with everything near by. Stores galore. Fast food and good restaurants. I have lived in northern areas, and southern traditional areas. I have lived in neighborhoods with lots of kids, and a few that were gated. Only once do I remember being less than thrilled about moving. My hubby accepted a new job in Northern New Jersey. Ok – my NJ friends, don’t kill me. It was when we had two young daughters, just starting school, and we went from a large family neighborhood, with a new elementary school in it. A neighborhood pool, and sidewalks everywhere. We had lots of little friends for the girls, and I had some good lady friends. It was an active group with many get-togethers. Moving to NJ was tough. But, we did find a place with great schools, and we were only a one hour drive time into downtown Manhattan and all it had to offer! It took me 3 years to get used to the area – if I ever did. That’s debateable!
I do not regret any of the moves. The NJ town turned out to be a great place for our daughters to grow up. They have wonderful memories from there. They got to see so many Broadway shows. They both were in music programs in the schools. So, no regrets.
The many moves, and the opportunities through hubby’s work to do some traveling, has left me with NO desire to ‘see the world.’ As I said before, I accepted moves easily, and I went with whatever came our way. I enjoyed learning about new places and sightseeing all of the local landmarks. I am grateful for getting to do that, but now I am content. I like where I am.
I think I have digressed from my ‘school days’ topic and the power is back on.
But, I’m going to finish this up by saying I have loved how my life has ‘meandered’ (side note – that is one of my favorite words! To meander is to move along or flow in a gentle way. How lovely is that?!!) and I did not know back in my school days where I would go.
I think of the students today who are learning, stretching, dealing with society’s issues, and I hope they can find their way – or, better yet, ACCEPT their way. Enjoy their way! Make the best of their school days!!
Marla’s Musings 