Memories
by Tammy Hall Parker on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 6:03am
Have you ever opened a new box of crayons and immediatly thought of elementary school? All those huge blackboards with the long erasers that you would have to go out and beat against a tree on Friday to get all the chalk out? Having a coat (cloak) room at the back so you could hang up your backpacks and jackets? Sitting on the floor to clean out your desk so you could get out of a little school work? I remember our school had hardwood flooring and a long slanted hall to the lunch room. The first week of school just after the floors had been waxed we would leave our shoes in class so we could get a running start to see who could slide the farthest down the hall. lol You always had rice at least once a week that was so sticky they scooped it out with an ice cream scoop yuck. And always without fail you had soup and grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwiches on Friday. Hey they had to put the leftover of all that yuck somewhere, and someone said throw it in a pot cover it with tomato sauce, give them a sandwich and maybe they will eat it if they don't know what's in it. But we always knew. Hey how about the old memograph copies that always smelled like alcohol when they were first brought in for you to take a test or color that masterpiece laying just under the surface of your impressionable little mind just waiting to bust out? The elementary school I went to you were always excited to get to the fifth or sixth grade because this meant you were old enough to sit out under the shade trees in front of the school and have class on pretty spring or fall days. Back then there were only 30 kids in each grade and you were all friends because each other is all you had. You had one teacher all day everyday and if she (and yes I mean she, there was no such thing as a male teacher until my sixth grade year) was ever sick and took a day off you never had work to do so every time the teacher coughed you silently hoped she was coming down with something she thought she should stay home with. Oh! don't forget Halloween carnivals. Wasn't it nicer to call them that than fall festivals? You had a birthday party everytime someone had a birthday with cake and soft drinks and then summer started to come along. There would be one more party everyone looked forward to and that was Sring Carnival. You always had the P.E. teacher signing kids up to play ball or to see who could throw a ball the farthest or the long jump to see who could jump farther. Back then we played outside on playgrounds with swing sets and red clay and when we played ball it was for fun. We made up games to play we didn't set around talking in a gym on bleachers about the newest video game. If we were lucky and I was we had a best friend close by that we could come home from school and go outside and ride a bike until it got to dark to see or play under the street light in front of the house until you were made to come inside. Now kids don't make up game to play they just want the newest one on the market they can play on t.v. you wonder what would happen if they had to use their imagination for just one week. Give them nothing but the wonderful smell of crayons, a coloring book, a piece of rope, a red ball, a large yard and no t.v. or cell phones for just one week. Don't let them sit in the house. Make them go outside and find something to do with their best friend besides sitting and talking or listening to an ipod. Chances are they live just around the corner from someone they go to school with and they don't even know it. When did schools get so over populated that we had to start changing classes instead of the teachers having to learn all the subjects well enough to keep the same students all day so they could form life long friendships? Chances are that everyone reading this knew every person in their graduating class along with who they were best friends with and what they did with their spare time. Now kids are lucky if they know a few out of the hundreds graduating at the same time. We all tried to stay in touch some did some didn't and we lost a few that were near and dear to us along the way. Memories are funny things. I have been looking at stuff that is on the web. Yes I am guilty of using it instead of the encyclopedia. No one can tell you why you really retain certain memories. They know that there are triggers that will set a memory off, but they can't tell you why somethings are in such detail and others are faded with time. I guess if they knew the answer to that they would find a cure for altzheimers. They do all agree that you can trigger a memory with a smell or a sound or a sight of something familiar that is tied to a person, place, or thing. I started looking into this when recently I lost my memory for certain details at a turning point in my life. I have read where the mind blocks things we can't handle and gives them back to us piece by piece as we can process the information and handle it better. But yet there are good memories that are painful to remember but you are told they are there to help you move on in life. The mind is a strange and complex thing that even the best of scientist can only guess how most of it works. They know the parts that control different functions but they can't tell you why they do it or if it gets damaged how much it will remember (ah memories again) how to do again. Maybe it's one of God's many little secrets that he doesn't want us to ever know. I only know one thing for sure I want to keep the ones I have, get back the ones I recently lost because no matter the reason losing memory is hard to deal with, and make new ones along the way. I like the memories crayons give me, the smell, and sights of a beautiful spring or fall day, and yes, when I am able to, going outside to play even if it is grown up stuff now. My only wish is that instead of memories I could carry along the people I have lost along the way that enjoyed the same things. Some of my best friends and family. But I try to make new memories with my kids, and tell them just how much fun you can have without technology. Wonder in 40 some odd years from now what their memories will bring them and whether or not they will read things like this and feel they missed out on a simpler time in life or if they will think our youth was harder for the lack of technology. I wonder if sounds or sights or smells will bring back memories or if their brains are being programmed different now. I just hope they have good memories of time spent with family and friends. I hope they continue to make wonderful memories and retain things they find important in life. I have way too many special memories to mention here and some are mean't to be kept just by me. I will make more and some will be happy and some sad, but the most important thing is there will be more happy than sad I'm sure. Just try one thing get a new box of crayons it's worth the cost and take a deep breath as you open them, I'm sure you will remember some wonderful times. Hey and since you bought the crayons go ahead and pick up a coloring book no one will be looking. lol
- Alyssa Parker and Cindy Hulsey Jackson like this.
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