Grandma Road Trip!
I like to take my Mom for when I can on my visits home. It's good for her to get out, and it probably is good for John and Retta, too. It worked out well to take Dorothy and my Mom out the day after Thanksgiving, as Retta and Tina and Vickie wanted to hit the big mall for a post-Thanksgiving shopping rampage.
Like I usually do, I drove to the Wadsworth area, near my Mom's old farm. We drove by St. Patricks, the parish where my Mom grew up and was married, and where I was baptized and went to grade school. I looked in the front door of the old school, which I don't think I've entered since 1974, and someone was there - the principal, it turns out.
I introduced myself and she took me on a little tour, while the grandmas waited in the car. She said the old part hadn't changed much since I had left. I corrected her - the asbestos ceilings with their tall-student scratch marks had been replaced with acoustic ceiling tile.
I got misty eyed seeing things that looked just like they did in eighth grade - or first grade, for that matter. Like the book room, where they sold textbooks and supplies:
At the end of the tour, she gave me a sweatshirt and got my name and address, so I suppose they'll start asking for money. I've ignored my high school fund raisers faithfully, and I suppose I can ignore the elementary school ones too. It will be harder for me, though.
I wouldn't mind at all if a tornado leveled my high school, if nobody got hurt, but I actually am a bit sentimental about St. Pat's. I think it's because I spent eight years with the same 30 or so kids. I remember I was thrilled to be done with it, but I don't have the bitter memories that two of my siblings have of the place, -- I'm sure I forgot some things, but what I remember is largely pleasant, and I prefer it that way. I would like to learn what happened to the rest of my classmates, who I have almost completely lost track of. Though through Retta I hear one of my classmates has grandchildren AND a child of her own who is in kindergarten in my nephew Jay's school. I stand in awe...
Anyway, from there it was off to lunch, and then to visit maybe a future school...
Like I usually do, I drove to the Wadsworth area, near my Mom's old farm. We drove by St. Patricks, the parish where my Mom grew up and was married, and where I was baptized and went to grade school. I looked in the front door of the old school, which I don't think I've entered since 1974, and someone was there - the principal, it turns out.
I introduced myself and she took me on a little tour, while the grandmas waited in the car. She said the old part hadn't changed much since I had left. I corrected her - the asbestos ceilings with their tall-student scratch marks had been replaced with acoustic ceiling tile.
I got misty eyed seeing things that looked just like they did in eighth grade - or first grade, for that matter. Like the book room, where they sold textbooks and supplies:
At the end of the tour, she gave me a sweatshirt and got my name and address, so I suppose they'll start asking for money. I've ignored my high school fund raisers faithfully, and I suppose I can ignore the elementary school ones too. It will be harder for me, though.
I wouldn't mind at all if a tornado leveled my high school, if nobody got hurt, but I actually am a bit sentimental about St. Pat's. I think it's because I spent eight years with the same 30 or so kids. I remember I was thrilled to be done with it, but I don't have the bitter memories that two of my siblings have of the place, -- I'm sure I forgot some things, but what I remember is largely pleasant, and I prefer it that way. I would like to learn what happened to the rest of my classmates, who I have almost completely lost track of. Though through Retta I hear one of my classmates has grandchildren AND a child of her own who is in kindergarten in my nephew Jay's school. I stand in awe...
Anyway, from there it was off to lunch, and then to visit maybe a future school...
posted by Joe at 8:34 PM
1 Comments:
I bet it even smelled the same. All my husband's primary schools have been pulled down and mine are too far away. Thanks for taking us along on your trip down memory lane.
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