“We are at all times constantly our past, our present, and our future rolled into one, a microcosm of our experiences with no set expiration date and all possibilities open to our own interpretations.” We were all rock stars back then, weren’t we? Our memories are good enough to remind us of that, 20 years … Continue reading Going Back: The Reunion
My 20 – year high school reunion is next month and I have been reliving some of the highs and lows of the experience. Hard to believe that it has been 20 years since high school. Some days I can almost convince myself I’m still a gangly 15-year-old with acne and a distinct lack of facial hair. Now the facial hair I do have has quite a bit of gray scattered throughout, so when I look in the mirror I can believe it’s been 20 years.
I went back after 15 years, when I was searching for some kind of anchor or foothold I had been missing back then. And I did reconnect with several people I knew, but it was transitory. It wasn’t solid. But this is 20 years. Everyone will be there, and I am at once both elated and frightened over that.
Everyone remembers high school differently. Some recall only the good parts, the “best years of my life” that is often bandied about by middle-aged people who need to relive their glory years, the metaphorical heyday. While others remember the bullying and tears. Still others reflect on how invisible they felt even in the midst of so many others. I was in this latter group.
Don’t get me wrong. I had a small network of people I would have called friends for lack of a better term, and they were separated into black, white, and other. Not by me, but by them. My black friends were courtesy of my skin color and my sister. My white friends were because we shared the nerd trait. And the others played table tennis with me. Back then those were the lines, but perhaps looking back they were only in my head. Continue reading “Reunion”
I guess I did things backwards, going to high school 80 miles from my home, and going to college while living at home. But for me, it wasn’t backwards at all. Everyone from my church who was my age did the exact same thing. You left home after eighth grade and moved into a dorm … Continue reading Growing Up Seventh-Day Adventist: Academy Life
One of the first things I should have noticed about the church was probably one of the last things I realized, and that was the racial distinctions. That’s not to say that the church is racist at all, but geographically it seemed like certain races dominated church structures. For example, the conference I grew up … Continue reading Growing Up Seventh-Day Adventist: Divisions