Issue 202 - Schoolday Memories
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August 2019
Earlier this month, Bill attended his 50th high school reunion in Redmond, Oregon. Shortly after he returned home, Jan learned that her high school will be sold. These events prompted many memories, and this issue's reflections.
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I didn’t attend the Fortieth Reunion. Or the Thirtieth. Or the Twentieth or the Tenth. Still, I decided to go to my Fiftieth – and had more fun than I ever imagined!
I saw several people I was hoping to see. I also had wonderful conversations with people I hadn’t even thought of for thirty years! One classmate, whom I did not know well but remember as a really nice guy still seems to be a really nice guy! The most amazing thing was to see how the high school cliques had broken down: the nerds, the jocks, the FFA crowd: we all enjoyed being with each other. One woman, whom I remembered as aloof, came in hugging everybody, me included.
How many of those cliques, I wonder, were really just barriers in my own mind, projections of my own insecurity? At one point, I went up to a table where two women were sitting and asked if I could join them. I had recognized one of them right away, and we had already chatted briefly. It took some conversation at the table before I remembered who the other one was. We chatted some more, and I went on to talk with others. Only after I left the table did it sink in that I had walked up and sat down with two of the cheerleaders. The cheerleaders! They were so far out of my league in high school! Now, what we shared in common was far greater than all those differences.
The most touching conversation may have been with one woman, who recounted an incident when one of the teachers questioned the integrity of her work. “And you stood up for me!” she told me. I don’t remember the incident, but she does. Another man was part of the conversation, and she recalled another time when he stood up for her. Just minor adolescent embarrassments – but fifty years later, she remembers the people who stood up for her.
I wonder: Who have I stood up for lately?
What about you?
--by Bill (and yes, that is my yearbook photo)
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What to do With the Memories
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A friend once told me, “When I was in high school, I wanted to grow up to be a rock star. Then I realized I couldn’t do both.” High school reunions are for going back to a place where you go back in time. It’s easy to see who grew up and who became a rock star.
For most people, high school reunions are like that. My high school closed in 1975 and later a retreat center and retirement center were built on the property. Since records of alums were scattered, I missed my 50
th reunion but I did visit the area recently, talked with one of my teachers (yes, she lives there 50 years later and remembers me!), walked the beautiful “sacred ground,” and shared the stories with Bill who seemed to love the place as much as I did. Soon after our visit to Chatawa, Mississippi, I learned that what remains of St. Mary of the Pines, will be closing. This week my friend, Terry Moran, posted the announcement of its sale offering on my Facebook page. It caused me pause. What will they do with the buildings? The cemetery? The chapel? What to do with the memories?
By the time I was in 8
th grade, I had known several girls from my parochial school who had been to St. Mary’s and I knew I wanted to also. NYT Columnist David Brooks would say the yearning was an “Annunciation.” I was lucky my parents let me go even though putting me on the train for that 24-hour ride from Corpus Christi, to San Antonio, to New Orleans, to Chatawa – for a 13 year old alone – usually was an occasion for tears.
My high school, unlike many of my friends’, was a rare and beautiful experience. A classical education: 4 years of Latin. We translated
Julius Caesar and the
History of the Gallic Wars from Latin to English. Reading the literary classics – Homer’s
Iliad and the Odyssey, the
Canterbury Tales, the
Aeneid,
Hamlet, - was when I fell in love with Dante’s
Divine Comedy. “Field trips” to the symphony and opera. Music Appreciation classes included six of us singing in the school sextet, the Chatawarblers.
What to do with the memories? Finding the wine bottles tucked in with the lye in the Sisters’ soap-making cellar? The Saturday morning walks in the woods? The Sunday afternoon rowboat rides over the clear placid lake? The life lessons in self-discipline, creating an orderly life, and reverence for the truth, goodness, and beauty of life? These memories are the treasures I hold in gratitude and deep affection. These are the memories I hold dear.
--Jan
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Dear Friends, in a recent issue we celebrated 10 years and 200 issues of this newsletter. We also shared with you our dreams and plans for expanding
Soul Windows Ministries. We are so grateful to you for your feedback, support, encouragement, gratitude, and especially those of you who took the time to write us notes, emails, or cards. We appreciate you so much.
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A part of "going home" is experiencing the place - the particular beauty of one part of God's creation. Here is a slide show from Bill's trip.
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And another video in and around Redmond
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Recent Issues
Issue 177 - Mr. Rogers
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Please share Reflection freely by forwarding any issue (forward in its entirety), but remember to respect copyright laws by not altering, copying, or reproducing Reflection, text or photos, whole or in part, without written permission.
Copyright (c) 2019 Soul Windows Ministries
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Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
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