Good evening, Readers!
It's nearing the end of August,
and you can tell from the local wildlife
that seasonal change is in the air.
My graduating class of 1989
celebrated our 30th last weekend.
I couldn't get the meeting time to work in between Sam's ball games.
I promised my friends,
as their former yearbook editor,
I'd put something together for them.
A little recap of sorts--
a walk down memory lane/visit of the present.
Harborcreek,
the modern day Mayberrry,
has changed,
yet hasn't changed at all.
Our favorite hangout,
McDonald's,
is still there,
but has gone through a few face lifts in 30 years.
Putt Putt is long gone,
but Perkins is still there
under that familiar name for just a little bit more.
That big Perkins sign fell on my friend Vicky's car
and crushed it.
They built a Burger King in the middle of the K Mart parking lot.
They don't have to worry about enough parking spaces.
There are plenty.
The plazas are drying up--
vacant store front after vacant store front.
We are still waiting for Otis 12.
The real owners of this lot--
the seagulls.
They are still there.
I think they wait for people to drop their chalupas.
This El-Canelo survived the drug bust
and is one of the places I like to go out to eat.
Pizza Hut,
my first job outside of babysitting,
still stands.
My three-peat Employee of the Month plaques
didn't get put back onto the walls after the renovation.
They YMCA is still thriving.
I splash around in the pools a few times a week.
Stan's has the best plants--hands down!
Shur-Fine held strong against the introduction of Walmart.
They have the best deli around.
In the no-stoplight strip,
you can get a hair cut,
pick up a case of beer,
stop for one,
or two,
and then try to play a round of golf.
Call me if you do.
I may stand a chance a winning.
And if you are looking for a good deal,
Eaglens Hardware,
minus the apostrophe,
is still having their 60% off sale.
Lord have mercy.
In fact,
if you still live in the area,
you have a chance to Keep it in the Creek tomorrow,
Saturday, August 17, 2019!
Let's all help the town that raised us!
Thousands of years from now
when archaeologists uncover these works of yard art,
they are going to be thoroughly confused.
Access to this beautiful lake of ours
is one of the highlights of our town.
On a good day in the summer,
there isn't a parking spot to be found at Shades Beach.
As for the schools who made us--
they, too, are blend of timelessness
and timeliness.
The Rolling Ridge letters were vandalized,
so these bright pillars welcome you to the school now.
Klein got a bit of a face lift.
This is my view of Clark School
as I make the turn to home every day.
It's the best little school around!
A brick computerized message board
replaced the evergreens
and large, wooden Huskie head.
Yes, the intentional misspelling of the singular Huskie
was a bone of contention last year.
I wrote about it last August
in Lesson 552.
Weekend homework:
Review.
The Nagle Road bridge
has become "a thing"
according to the kids.
So much so,
we battle neighboring Iroquois for control of it
every year on the football season's opening game.
I still have a brick from the old,
penitentiary-like,
two story,
brick building
that stood before this one.
I never really realized
that finding the actual High School office entry
is sort of difficult if you don't know the building.
It's not really that well marked.
The turquoise blue that accented our orange
has morphed more into a tealy green.
The softer version of our mascot
designed by George Humes
has faded from use in recent years.
This version by John Donofrio is preferred by most everyone.
To this day,
while waiting in line for concessions,
I still peruse the bricks.
The Harbor Creek valedictorian wall
has placed its last plaque this year.
Starting next year we are moving to
a Cum Laude system of academic recognition.
I'm a hometown girl
whose seed landed and sprouted roots
just a few feet from
where I was born.
Must have been a soft breeze blowing that day.
I didn't make the reunion,
but family comes first.
Always.
Any '89ers are always welcome to stop by.
I'm easy to find,
plus I have a winery across the street
we can visit.
Then we an sit for a booth session.
We kept it in the 'hood this week!
Flowers and food from Richter Farms.
Beverages from 6 Mile Cellars.
Everyone in the booth wants to place an order
through the barn window.
Most people strangely fake-order chili dogs,
which I find kind of funny.
Do people really order chili dogs at take out windows?
I cannot fathom cooking for anyone at this point of the summer,
after feeding my tribe 21 meals a week
all summer long.
So, Grandma came up with a good idea!
Booth visitors get a fortune cookie!
My kids and I got the first pulls.
Eloise's:
(truth)
Ellen's:
(she's moving to college next Friday....)
Sam's:
From his frown of disappointment,
I thought for a hot second
that Grandma ordered the bad fortunes,
but I was wrong.
He was hoping for athletic
over imaginative.
He looked disappointed,
but not nearly as stressed
when we told him he couldn't get up
from dinner until he tried a beet.
Never mind that the night before
Sam ate 6 dog biscuits on dares
from is teammates
(and coaches).
Natalie's:
(Oh, how perfect!)
89'ers,
I would have liked to have made you a video,
but with age comes wisdom.
I wasn't sure whose shared images
could move beyond our closed Class of '89 facebook page,
so I decided against it.
Instead of a musical montage of photos
blowing through time,
I'll share a video of something near and dear to my heart.
I have become a champion of people with special needs.
I seemed to have an understanding
that this would be my life in some way,
many years before the path lay before me.
Call it intuition,
gut instinct,
or divine intervention,
but that's what drove me to refocus my major out of the blue
to Special Education.
Your second assignment this weekend
is to watch the video below
the entire way through.
It's difficult to gauge just how severely impaired
this young man is until you see him stand before the judges in the end.
Blind since birth,
and autistic,
this boy has a gift that only comes around once in a blue moon.
This, from Simon Cowell,
who can recognize gifts and talents
better than anyone.
"We are nothing without people like you.
We are nothing without our audience
who so generously are sharing your clips
so other people around the world can share your talent.
You are genuinely one of the most extraordinary people
and talents we've had the great fortune to have
on any show we've ever made."
Enjoy.
Cheers to 30 more years, Classmates!
Eloise
but you'll find me in our yearbook under Elaine.
No comments:
Post a Comment