This little trip down memory parkway is brought to you by a good friend of mine. Kim and I go way back (was it fifth or sixth grade?) and she's always been (still is) one of the wittiest people I know. The other day she surprised me with a comment about a poem I had written when we were in high school. I was stunned she actually remembered the title.
Like many people I know, I hated my life in high school and tried hard to forget it after graduation. I have a few dim but bitter recollections: the time I got stood up for homecoming when I was a sophomore; my parents getting divorced my junior year; not going to my senior prom; and finally, the small matter of not actually having graduated because I failed my senior health class (I didn't find out about the not graduating part until eight years later when I ordered a transcript I needed to get into the UW). Good times.
Fortunately, I channelled much of my teen angst into prolific poetry writing, spent six years and big bucks on professional help, and got my health class waived so I could finally graduate (technically it was 1996 instead of 1988!), and I stand before you today a reasonably happy and well-adjusted grownup who got her associate degree before her diploma.
It was actually kind of fun digging through my old notebooks and reading my early poetry. Kim, this one's for you...
I Hope You Didn't Miss the Sunrise
When I woke up this morning
it was waiting for me
vast and patient in the sky.
All I could feel was joy
all I could feel was love
all I could feel was wonder
at its beauty.
It called to the world,
"Be at peace;
each new day brings hope
and the chance for improvement."
I wanted more than anything
to share how I felt at that moment.
I hope you didn't miss the sunrise.
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6 comments:
this poem bares out just how much you wanted to feel the breathe of life,, much like the sun was offering it every day... it seems to me somewhere along the way,, the sun did come out for you,, and all of that was put behind... i really enjoyed this little window to your world.....
This post made me laugh and laugh, in the way that only another Garfield-graduate-who-only-passed-senior-Health-because-Mr. Fore-still-felt-guilty-about-that-unfortunate-freshman-year-softball-incident can laugh.
katie, i love hearing bits of your high school life. so wierd that you received your associates degree before your diploma. lol!
Paisley—you're right; gradually during my twenties and early thirties I internalized the idea of being at peace and giving myself a fresh chance with each new day. It was such a blessed relief to move on, be powerful in making those inward and outward changes that brought me contentment.
Dean/Mr. Talkypants—I can't believe that you used emotional blackmail to pass senior Health. Why didn't I think of that? I actually went back to Garfield eight years after graduating and talked with Mr. Fore about maybe having to redo senior Health. Fortunately, since I had taken health in college, they waived it. Whew.
Aubrey—Yeah, what can I say? I was and still am pretty weird. But that's part of my charm...
Oh, I'm so late to my own shout-out! Thank you, Katie, for posting this again. I still do love it.
And heh: I'd forgotten your non-graduation trauma again until now. I wonder what I would have done? My health teacher was Ms. Hayworth, and considering that she was the *chain-smoking* health teacher, she must be dead by now...? Well, for her sake I hope not.
I didn't keep much creative writing from my high-school days, for whatever reason...but I have exhaustive journals. Oh mercy, the MELODRAMA. One of these days I'll post some excerpts. :)
Kim, I'd love to see some excerpts from your journals! I kept some rather exhaustive ones, too (and not just for Mr. Adams endless assignments), and it's always a revelation to go back and read them. Uncomfortable, hilarious, embarrassing and illumnating. Sigh.
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