The Dawnwood Years, Part 1

In the next few blog posts, I’ll be continuing on with my reminiscing about my Junior High and High School experiences that were sparked by me digging out my old school yearbooks.

As I entered 7th grade at Dawnwood Junior High School, I remember being scared and excited at the same time. Afraid I couldn’t get to my classes on time or would get lost in the halls. Excited about all the new people I would meet and experiences I would have. I slowly thumbed through the pages of my yearbook, the 1964 Orbit, trying to relive that time by coaxing buried memories to the surface of my mind.

The great thing about 7th grade yearbooks is they are full of notes and well wishes from your classmates that give you clues to what your life was like back then. Some of them are funny, others simply wishing you the best in the future. Here are a few classics:

Remember Grant;
Remember Lee;
The “hell” with them;
Remember me!
Ted (Blanco)

Ashes to Ashes
Dust to Dust
If it weren’t for boys
You would rust.
Love & Lolly Pops,
Cecelia (Vanisky)

Never kiss by the garden gate.
Love is blind, but the neighbors ain’t.
Love ya, Jack (Reinhard)

There were loads more, equally as corny. Some wrote “good luck in 8th grade,” while others just signed their name. John Brown wrote “Peace & Contemplate.” A 7th grader? This guy was so far ahead of the rest of us. In all there were 40 students and 9 teachers who signed my 7th grade yearbook. I will cherish every one of them.

I must say that traveling down this road has awakened something in me…a desire to reconnect with the person I was back then and a need to reflect on the person I am today. How do the two compare? I would like to think that I am that same person deep down inside, but how can I be? So much has happened in my life these last 45 years that forced me to change.

For one, I am now a child of God…the old me is gone and I was made new. Hallelujah! And life experiences change you: 3 marriages, 2 divorces, children, death, etc. all have a part in shaping who you are and how you look at life. I’d like to think I’ve handled these changes in a positive manner, that I didn’t let them take away from who I am at the core, but instead used each experience to make the person I was back in 1964-69 a better version of the one I am today in 2010. Yes, that’s what I think.

To be continued . . .