A Trip Down Memory Lane

"We do not remember days; we remember moments." 

 Cesare Pavese

Remember the fun we used to have when we blew on the seeds off a dandelion?  Legend holds that that blowing the seeds off a dandelion is said to carry your thoughts and dreams to your loved one.  Or how about holding the buttercup under someone's chin to see if a person likes butter? Ah, the magic of childhood...and sometimes just when you think that the magic is gone forever, a miracle of sorts occurs. 

The first thing I have to say is that Classmates was worth the little bit of money I paid for it.  Not only have I gotten a  response from the party who told me there was no Santa Claus, but I also heard from an old high school girlfriend....and she left her phone number, to boot.  This weekend we're going to chat.  Here it was just a few short months ago that I was ruing the fact that I had no ties to my youth, and now two people who were important to me in my youth have re-entered my life. 

Carol had always lived a few blocks away from me, but we didn't develop any sort of friendship until I was transferred to the high school she attended.  Mom had made that decision.  Not that she worried so much that I was being bullied, but that I 'embarrassed' her by skipping school and ending up on suspension too often. Each morning I'd meet her at her house and then we'd head out to school, sometimes exchanging clothes before we went.  Of course, everything we did together had to be on the sneak because my mom didn't want me hanging around with Carol or her sister. I never did find out why, but it seemed to have something to do with their mother, but from what I recall, their mom was a pretty cool mom who did her best to raise three daughters on her own. But then mom had something against pretty much everybody.

I remember one time Carol and I met on a Saturday afternoon and walked all the way to my grandparent's home. We 'd been planning to go to a school football game, and since we were near their house, I thought it would be nice to stop by and say hello.  What a foolish mistake that was!  Oh, this visit went well. enough.  My grandparents were happy to see me, but when my mom found out,  she gave me one of the worst tongue lashings I ever endured...and, of course, I was 'grounded' again, but that was nothing new.  I spent almost my entire teen-age  years grounded for one thing or another.  Stupid things like having my coat unbuttoned was enough to land me in the house for a month. Needless to say, my teen-age years were quite an unhappy time for me.  My grammar school years were different, though.

As for my childhood friend, he remembered me clearly. His sister, my old peer,  had never married and was still living in New Jersey.  He also brought up so many wonderful memories. He spoke of my three-legged dog, Susie, and of the people who lived across the street from me.  Who could forget them?  They kept a monkey, who always stole our lollipops, in a playpen in the kitchen and horse in their garage. During the day the horse was allowed to roam on a small plot of the land next to their home.  One day they all went in for lunch and warned me not to touch the horse, but I always seemed to do the opposite of what I was told.   I wanted to feed the horse.  At first it went well, but then I made the mistake of putting too much of my hand in its mouth, and when it bit down, I screamed out in pain.  I'm really surprised it didn't break the skin. Everyone came running. My hand was bruised, battered, and painful, but surprisingly, it hadn't broken the skin.  But, to this day, I have a fear of horses.

"Life gives us brief moments with another...but sometimes in those brief moment we get memories that last a lifetime..." 

 Anonymous