Everyday I connect to my world by seeing something that reminds me of the past. I drive by my grandma and grandpa’s house built in the 1940s and think about all the good times I had there with my 14 cousins. Today, I rarely see my cousins ,and if I have contact, it is usually a text. I see the missing house I grew up in, next to my grandma and grandpa’s house. That gives me a pit in my stomach. Many things happened in that house that added to my anxiety, and there were a few good things as well. My dad died in that house. It is just as well that I don’t have to see it daily, although when it was first torn down, it was such a weird feeling. It was a piece of my life that was gone.
When I pick up my grandgirls at school, I relive certain moments that I had during my thirty year career as an educator and administrator. Seeing the office, although it is redecorated, makes me think of all the good and bad times I experienced there. Talking to irate parents, parents that had the smelly “skunk” smell or other substance odors wafted back to me. Crying with teachers about some personal issue, or holding in my feelings when a child tells me that his dad keeps him outside in a box “his room” and won’t let him come in the house makes my stomach hurt to this day. A child who told me that her mom makes her wear leg braces, but she only wears them at home makes my red flag pop up as well as the fifty allergies that did not ever present themselves. The mom invented a new illness everytime we had a meeting. Munchhausen was suspected, It takes all kinds of people to make the world go round.
My Granddaughters constantly remind me of their mom or dad through good and bad times. I think about how they act and share that with them. My fifth granddaughter acts a lot like her dad although she is much prettier. (Don’t tell him I said that!). She likes to always win when she plays games. I was playing checkers with her one day, and she took her index finger to move the checker, but she tucked her thumb under her hand and moved two at once because she did not want me to skip her! I told her she was acting just like her dad! (She also looks more like him than the other three.) When I’m driving along and pass someplace I experienced in the past, I always share the history of the building or something that happened there with the grandgirls. I’m sure they don’t care, but I like to tell them about the past. My third granddaughter asked me why my mom came to the US. I told her I really did not know (see my previous posts). Her response was “that’s weird!” Yes, dear, I agree!
I am sure that I identify with my sense of sight when I reminisce the past. There is much more to tell, but time does not allow me to share more!
Later…
Retired Principal Tales 
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