The Good Old Days

Friday afternoon, leaving work.  Gorgeous sunny September afternoon. The leaves haven’t yet started to fall.  But school is back in session and I started back this year too.  Assisting in the cafe.  It’s been 15 years since my youngest graduated from these hallowed halls and 26 years since the school opened its doors that very first day.  We were one of the pioneer families. Walking through the school yard to my car evoked so many memories.  I was feeling all the feels this afternoon.  My daughter was in Grade 2 and my son was in grade 5 the year the school opened its doors.     We worked with the teachers and administrators most of August trying to get the newly purchased school ready for fall startup. I remember the first family picnic we had out on the school yard lawn. It was an exciting time.  We brought homemade apple pies – I think just to share with others and one of the school’s new administrators decided to auction them off for $125.00 a pie.  Parents were hyped and wanted to help this new school out.

The structure of the school has changed so much since our family was a part of this school.  I say ‘ our family’ because it was very much a family affair back then.  The trees are so much taller- They actually have trees. The whole area, so much more developed.  But as I was walking past the metal railings at the elementary door, the very same ones that were the backdrop of many first day of school pictures, all the sweet memories of my kids’ school years flooded over me and left me breathless.  Where did those years go?   So full of hopes and dreams.  So full of precious moments and memories.

As I serve up hot lunch to the kids these days, it just takes me back.  I usually made lunches for my kids.  I was one of those weirdos that enjoyed making lunches for my kids.  But I gave them money to buy lunch on Fridays or whichever day they were serving their favorite foods.  I was always available to drop them off at school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.  Don’t tell anyone, but I usually had a snack in the van because I knew they’d be hungry and being fed made them chatty and they’d tell me about their day.   I made cookies and brought cheese sticks and juice boxes.  Any day that was early dismissal or the last day before a break,  we always went out for lunch and/ or to a movie.  I never had these moments when I was growing up.  We had 7 kids in our family and we walked to school and back everyday and we made our own boring lunches.  Back in my day Spam was lunch meat not unwanted email.

I think back to all the times I decorated that gym for graduations and fundraisers.  All the times we attended concerts in that gym. I remember Journey to Bethlehem, where the kids and teachers turned the gym into Bethlehem for a walking tour with all the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of that first Christmas. Such a worthwhile learning experience.  I remember decorating the teachers lounge that first year, painting trees and all kinds of fun things on the walls.  I loved helping out in the kids’ classrooms and was very excited when the teachers let me decorate their bulletin boards.  I signed up for every field trip. Went as a chaperone to fall sleepover camp. I taught Lexie’s grade 3 class how to make a quilt.  I sewed costumes for plays – Little Women to be specific. My son had a role in the Dr. Suess musical.  He was amazing, even if I do say so myself.  Both kids ventured out on Missions trips.  Lexie to South Africa and Andrew to Trinidad.  Many sleepless nights til they arrived safely home.  And the science projects.  I loved to help the kids with their homework – I loved school.  Except Math.  I was always excited to see what mark I…. I mean, they…… got when their assignments came back.

In our days, the teachers gave out benchmarks.  The slogan was to be a lifelong learner.  I already was one. Oh right, I was not a student.  However, I did graduate from Grade 9 three times.  I had to drop out after Andrew and Lexie’s Grade 9 because I didn’t understand the math.  They were on their own then .  Another belief  that was drilled into these kids was that the student would eventually become the teacher.  I can honestly say, both of my kids flew right past me academically.  And now they are teaching me things I don’t know.  I hate that.  Like how to use my computer and phone.  Lexie, teaching me how to decorate cookies. Andrew,  full of all the trivial information we need at a moment’s notice and he always has it.

I remember both graduations from Grade 12 vividly.  Such momentous and bittersweet moments.  So proud they were graduating and so sad that part of their life was over.  I had so much fun.  I don’t know if I was supposed to, but I did.  I loved those school years. When the kids needed me and depended on me.  They came to me with all their problems and I was actually able to solve most of them. Life was so much easier back then.  Safer.  More predictable. Cohesive.  All for one and one for all.  We may not have had it all together but together we had it all.  And this school was the center of SO many of our family memories, how can I not look back wistfully and wish I was ‘there’ again?  Well I am there again, but you know what I mean.  Those really were the ‘good old days’.