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Memory Therapy
August 22, 2013
— memory, Pittsburgh, therapy
forsythia
One week from today I will be visiting the town near Pittsburgh where I grew up and went to school through 8th grade. I have not been there for almost 50 years, so things will be different…and yet the same. I tune in to the daily tweets of @thomasmooreSoul because I find them to be just the right amount of therapy for a single day. A long time ago he tweeted that talking about your childhood openly, telling stories you remember, is a great way to make sense of the past. I have been exchanging pictures and comments with some of the former classmates for about 4 months now, as we prepare to meet in Oakmont, PA for their (I was already gone) high school reunion. I can say that Tom’s advice about childhood stories is powerful. Each one of us remembers different parts of our class story; I am sure being physically in our old school will spark some memories we have not discovered. There is something unaltered about all our personalities that I can’t put into words, but next week maybe I will.
Before we all get hauled off to the memory wing of some care home we have the opportunity to get together to reminisce about our seriously good old days. A few of us are already gone, naturally. Such is life. It ends. I look forward to stirring up some memory/emotions from my childhood with the classmates with whom I shared them. I have travelled the world, but this is time travel in a sense. I am not sure what kind of deeper meaning will be revealed, but I expect it will be more helpful to my psyche than years of analysis might be (I am too thrifty to find out). Buckle up, gentle readers, and prepare to time travel with me to the ‘Burgh next week…back to the future.
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And we are the unusual ones who both left after 8th grade, yet very much look forward to the event. I moved a few miles away for HS, but it was far enough to loose most contact. I always loved going back, but regret to say that I had no lasting friendships from Oakmont after HS. I always felt that I missed something, transferring to a school that felt so impersonal and monstrously huge in comparison. I see myself as somewhat socially introverted in those early adolescent times. It will be interesting to see how people show themselves now. Certainly Facebook has helped many of us to get to know each other after all this time, and I really like getting to know a few people that I only knew a little bit before. It is so good to see how you, Pam, have allowed your singular nature to so unabashedly shine trough. It’s a wonderful thing.
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James Walcroft
August 23, 2013
I have finished the skirt I needed to sew and wear in that hallway to complete the rebellion I started with Mrs. Gallashun. I have already had a deep realization about that…I sew without regard to systems in order to prove Mrs. G wrong for giving me the only D I ever received in my academic career…..talk about weirdly deep inspiration..I still hope she does not show..
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I think it’s just a beautiful photo.. I will remember this. and I like that we are all sharing this and really getting to know each other
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