“A childhood is what anyone wants to remember of it. It leaves behind no fossils, except perhaps in fiction.”
Today we have emerged from a post-apocalyptic world where the sun never shines. Gray sky has been replaced by blue and the sun has appeared. How long this will last I don’t know. The weather report is for showers later this afternoon and for every day until Sunday. Even now the sun is dimming, and the sky is clouding. It is warm though, and I’ll take that.
In my memory spring never had rain. It had sun every day. I’d walk to school wearing a light spring jacket, my school bag slung over my shoulder and across my chest. I remember a red plastic strap and two small pockets below the buckle which kept the large pocket closed. I’d carry my lunchbox or fit it in my school bag if I could. Spring meant we no longer walked hunched over protecting ourselves from the wind and the cold. We could take our time getting to school. I remember that every morning the school yard was filled with kids milling around waiting for the nun to come outside and ring the hand bell. We’d hear it and run to line up in twos by classes then we’d walk into the building one class at a time. Recess was always a joy in the spring.
We never counted days when I was young so we never knew when school would end for the year. The last days arrived unheralded. First was a week of testing to see if we’d learned anything then on that last day we’d get report cards and be dismissed in the late morning. I remember running home to tell my mother I’d been promoted.
Next year the old school turns 100. I’m hoping there will be festivities so I can walk through the door and up those stairs one more time. Maybe they ought to bring back a nun, still dressed in a habit, who will ring the bell to tell us it’s time. I know every inch of that building, and I even remember where I sat in some of those classrooms. I want to know if the cloakroom outside my first grade classroom is as I remember it. I want to go to the top floor and look down just as I did every day. I loved the view of wood and stairs and statues in niches. My memories are mostly fond. Years do that-clean up our memories and keep the good ones alive.
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May 19, 2011 at 1:08 pm
The day started out grey and rainy but has improved greatly. Sun and some clouds and fairly warm and so it will continue for a couple of days they say.
It would be fun to go back to the old school. I think it must be around 150 years old now but I doubt any one cares about it. My class room was on the top floor the three first years. I remember it as huge but looking at the building from the outside it must be tiny 🙂 🙂 I loved that room and the second class room I had too from grade 4-6.
Have a great day!
Christer.
May 19, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Christer,
Our day was just the opposite. It got gray and rainy by the afternoon.
My old school is still being used so I figure it had been well maintained.
May 19, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Maybe they were all built in 1911. I know St Mathews was old and always being rebuilt in the summer months. The Rectory had a tennis court behind it, that was new, but only for the Priests. I can remember one nun wearing shorts to a festival. I didn’t even recognize her until my older sister said that who it is. My memory for that school just isn’t there anymore. I could no more show you a classroom I was in as find the way to the gym.
May 19, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Z&Me,
They build a second school nearly adjacent to the old school. It was, of course, always called the new school.
I never saw the nuns in anything except habits though those changed a bit over the years. They had blinders on at first; they had to turn to catch us then those were changed to what looked like a visor. We were more cautious then.