If you ever want a surreal experience, go back and visit the high school you used to attend. My niece just started attending the high school I graduated from in 1984 and I dropped her off for her first day of classes a couple of weeks ago. Some things had changed so much I couldn't hardly believe it. Police and security were everywhere. The school has always had a rough reputation, even when I went there, but it seems like it is living up to the reputation now. The building is bigger too. They've added a huge addition to the south side of the building and from the back, it doesn't even look like the same school. But as I drove by the parking lot on the north side of the school, all the old memories came rushing back. They built the parking lot during my senior year and I can remember pulling my mom's old Pontiac up to the gate just like it was yesterday. I drove it to school after dropping her off at work. I carefully maneuvered the car around each corner and once it was parked, I walked into the same door my niece went through.
As I watched my niece go into the school, I thought back to old hallways. For some reason, my mind drifted to one particular hallway in which a girl was taking pictures for our senior yearbook. I was on the golf team at the time and I remember her snapping my photo for the golf team. I have no idea why I remember that once instance. I just do.
Another memory flashed through my mind. I was in the gym playing basketball before school started one day. I got the ball on a breakaway and was headed for the hoop when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a taller, faster player from the school's basketball team making up ground quickly. I was sure he was going to block my shot and everybody in the gym was going to whoop it up. I had no idea what I was going to do when I left the ground, but I could see our bodies converging and suddenly I saw an opportunity to duck under the basket and do a reverse lay up, so I took the chance. The ball kissed off the backboard and into the basket. The crowd let out a whoop alright, but not in the fashion I had expected. Instead, they whooped it up for me. Later I realized that the move caught the eye of a girl and I felt about nine and half feet tall when she brought it up.
My mind raced to the tennis courts behind the school. I spent so many hours on those courts attempting to improve my game. I also had a ton of laughs with teammates. I remember one instance during practice, while playing doubles with the best players on the team, I poached and was drilled in the side by the guy returning serve. The ball hit me so hard that it left a bruise. It also landed in fair play on the other side of the net and we won the point. Even though I was writhing on the ground in pain, I couldn't help but laugh. Neither could anybody else.
I recalled homecomings, study halls spent reading sports books, struggling through Algebra class, hanging out with good friends in wood shop, lettering in two sports, exchanging senior pictures, and Purple Rain being played on cassette during the summer. Before I knew it, I was in college. A new phase in my life. Since then I've had many new phases. But it's fun to think about the way things used to be once in a while. And it took me a long time to learn this, but I've also learned not to get stuck in such memories. Or to pine for them. They are what they are and that's good enough.
