Going on with the nostalgia theme...
Today I came back from my niece's ice cream social. Basically, the school collects money, gives us ice cream, and the kids play in a park. It is crazy, a bunch of 5 year olds running around with ice cream in their hands, but it is nice for the kids to see each other outside school (and the parents and guardians as well).
My niece has spent this year in the same town I grew up in. When I was in elementary school, I was a bus helper for my niece's current kindergarten teacher's class. I played on the high school tennis team with her kindergarten teacher's daughter. There is another teacher at the school who used to live down the street from me, I used to go to her house and hang out with her daughter all the time. On the list of kindergarteners, I recognize the names of some people I went to high school with. Sometimes I'm surprised with how long I've been connected to this town. I thought once I left, I would never be back.
Here I am.
Having my niece here, in this same school system, has healed some old wounds for me. I'm not entirely sure how it has happened. I think being able to take care of her in the same system, with some of the same people around, I have shown myself that what happened, happened. I am better and smarter now. I think I know that whatever happened, happened because I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know any better. Now I know. I won't let the same thing happen to myself again, or to my niece. Really, I have no idea why I am at peace now.
I enjoy living here now. Although I won't stay.
1 comment:
My kids have gone to the same high school I went to. Some of their teachers have been my teachers. It's a little freaky to walk down the same halls, to the same teachers and sit across the desk from them as a parent and not a student. It's hard for me to listen to what they're saying sometimes because I just keep thinking.."Why aren't you retired?"
It's also the very reason I don't go to reunions. Every time I go to a PTA meeting, it's a reunion.
Still, I didn't really have an appreciation for where we lived until we left it for 14 months. Now, I'm grateful every day. I understand your feeling of having old wounds healed. Sometimes, watching where you've been and experiencing it again through the eyes of someone you love is good therapy.
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