Trip Down Memory Lane
Have you ever taken a trip down memory lane? A couple months ago I attended a writers’ workshop in Powhatan County, the place of my first job. It’s called Blessed Sacrament Huguenot Catholic School now, but it was Huguenot Academy when I worked there.
I was one of the lucky students that found a job as soon as I graduated from JMU (Madison College then). I was invited to an interview with the Headmaster and offered the job as librarian in the K-12 private school the next week.
As I drove to the workshop, I found myself looking for mileposts and familiar landmarks. There has been a lot of development in forty years, but the rural scenery was the same.
The closer I got to my destination, the more I wanted to take a quick detour to see if the school was still there. I approached a traffic light, saw a street named Academy Road and made a quick right turn.
The red brick buildings are painted white. The library was the size of a large classroom, a bulletin board between large windows on one side, the remaining walls lined with book shelves and a card catalog – this was before computers were used in offices, much less in classrooms. This was also pre-copiers, and everyone used a mimeograph machine in the main office.
The year after I left, there was an explosion – a fourteen-year-old student carried an artillery shell he found at Fort Pickett to the industrial arts classroom. As a result, some of the buildings were restructured and I believe part of the new addition included a larger more efficient library.
I made many friends – one survived an abusive marriage and found love again. I created my first children’s story as I entertained her daughter while she and her fiancé filed for their marriage license. I must have made an impression, she repeated it to her mother as her bedtime story that night.
I also purchased my first car, an orange and white Pinto. One morning, on my way to work, my hand-me-down car overheated. Fortunately, I was near a gas station. I can still hear the attendant’s comment, “was that you in that big cloud of white smoke that flew by?” I made it to my writers’ workshop with minutes to spare and lots of fond memories. Have you ever taken a trip down memory lane?
Oh Kay, I love this. Michael and I seem to be going down this lane almost daily. As one grows older these memories become more important. You make my heart fill with joy. One of my great memories is when you stayed with us during your student teaching. Where did the Shelby go?
Thank you, Kitty. I often have flashbacks of Pat and me sitting in your den working on our lesson plans. Those were fun times, and so much happened that Spring. My father sold his Shelby a few years after I graduated from college.