Yesterday afternoon, my mother called to make me aware of two things: her sewer is now officially unclogged and also, my high school is likely closing. I’ll spare you the details of the sewer but rest assured there was some cursing of tree roots involved. Because it’s the trees’ fault!
The news of my high school possibly closing is sort of sad, though. And if you’d have asked me a few years ago how I would have felt about this, I might not have cared much. But now, it’s different. Now, after the passing of the ten-year mark, and well, possibly my own maturity, I’m sad. While the school I remember is not so much comparable to the place it’s become (sort of last in line in the district’s priorities, I’m afraid), it’s still sad to think those doors could close. And in some ways, it feels like those memories would close with it.
Now, I’m not really one to reminisce about high school to the extent that some do. Sure, there were some glory days, but overall it was more awkward, stressful, hilarious, and embarrassing than I’d have admitted before this point in my life. I mean, I wore multi-colored denim. Could it really have been all glory? I think not. But there are also days when all I need do is close my eyes and I can remember the scent of my locker (and the odor of the locker next door), when I can remember the echo in the hallways, and the bonfire during homecoming week of my Freshman year. I still remember sitting in the auditorium during a talent show watching a group of football players dressed as The Village People dance to the Y.M.C.A. like it was yesterday. And I remember checking my hair in magnetic locker mirrors, and consoling broken hearts during Physics, and the guy that loaned me a pencil when Geometry Teacher From Hell wouldn’t let me go to my locker to get one. I still blame that teacher for my phobia of right angles, by the way. Not to mention the Pythagorean theorem.
I know those memories will never go away, but the thought that the place where they were made could be gone really does get to me. That auditorium, those lockers, that gym, all sealed up and turned into I don’t know what. It wouldn’t matter, because it wouldn’t be that place any more. And there would be no way we could go back. And there would be no place to drive by. No place to see at the reunion. And I’d have to say goodbye. And the sadness might drive me into to joining Facebook. And that is no way to start a year.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
That is sad. I’m trying to put myself in your shoes and I would definitely be affected by it. I drove by the building for years even before I attended it, so it would feel so weird to know that it won’t even be a school.
Awwww…my high school was brand new when I went there as a freshman. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be told it was closing. I’m not too nostalgic, but it might make me try and get there for one last basketball/football/volleyball game, just to say goodbye to the place.
High school…meh. But last year my college dorm was torn down to make way for brand new buildings. That made me sad.
Oh, come on…Facebook is not the end
They are thinking of closing my high school too – someone started a Facebook ‘group’ to ’save the school’.
Awe don’t hate the Facebook. It’s kinda fun to reminisce with old high school friends on there.
I thoroughly enjoyed your trip down memory lane here. I too wore colored denim and had a magnetic locker mirror. Even with all its awkwardness, high school is an unforgettable time. I’d be sad if my school was closing, too.
Facebook isn’t that bad – though I hate admitting that I am on there!
They closed my junior high school a while back. Now, no one has fabulous memories of junior high nor should it cause sadness when such a building is closed… and yet, I can related to what you are feeling. There is something about the place that made the memories. Sure I still have those memories, but the place was kind of unique for all that it was and all that was experienced.
I know what you mean. I’ve gone back to my high school a few times in the past few years and it’s nothing like it was when I was there 11 (almost *gasp* 12) years ago – new paint, carpeting, a trophy case in the front entrance – but at the same time, all I have to do is walk toward the library and I remember moments after school working on the newspaper.
Or walk down a certain wing and remember gathering with my BFF to talk about our latest crushes.
The closing of a high school is a sad thing, indeed. I hope that doesn’t happen, but even if it does, you will carry those memories you created there with you forever.
Funny you should write about just this topic. On my last trip home I could not help but visit my old High School and the changes it has undergone and is still undergoing were heartbreaking. So much so that as you put it, that place where so many memories were made is no longer.
And come on! Facebook is good! hehehehe
It’s funny cause I haven’t even cared about going near my old high school. The school I went to hasn’t even existed for years because we had been paired with another town and that pairing broke up a few years after I graduated. My sister was the first class actually out of the new one.