Glory Days…….
Glory Days, I was thinking about all those great days at Harlan High School listening to Bruce Springsteen, sing it again!
“Glory Days, they’ll pass you by!”
Boy do they ever! But youth is best lived by the young, and there is something comforting about all the wisdom life hands you, or makes you earn! Knowledge is a good thing, but wisdom is to be coveted! It will be a lot of fun to see all my old friends today, and re-tell the stories that have grown out of proportion at our Liars Club gathering! I sure hope no one has the film, I’d rather remember it the way it now is settled, in my mind, as the way things “really” were.
I was so very fortunate to grow up in Harlan, Kentucky. Thanks to lots of films and tall tales (some fiction, some not), a place feared by many, but home for me! It was a different time, with a lot less cares, but some of my best memories are from my home town. We lived on Ivy Hill, a big hill, to flat-landers, it would be a mountain. Our house was along the ridge and I could see the whole town of Harlan from my bedroom window. I have the strangest memories of life as a teenager in Harlan. Two very distinct memories are of lying in bed at night and hearing the train whistles as the coal trains came and went through the night.
The other memory will come full circle tonight. Our high school gym, where we dressed for football games, was a few blocks from the football field. When it was time to go to the field for our games, we assembled, had a few last words from our coach, then walked together to the field. Everyone had their helmets on, few words were spoken, and I can still close my eyes and hear those metal tipped cleats clacking on the pavement as we walked to the game. The intentness of those moments preparing to play is still burning in my soul. I learned a lot about focus and commitment on those short walks to the field! Though I wouldn’t last but a couple of plays, I sure would love to make that walk to the field with my friends one more time! But tonight, it’s time for another generation to build those memories!
Tonight, the class of 1964 will have to be satisfied with reliving the memories…
Blessings,
the pilgrim
This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2014 at 2:18 pm
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You haven’t changed a bit … still the handsome young man who swept Sherelene off her feet. Stay safe. His Light is traveling with you.
That was before Sherelene got glasses! Love you man!
What a stud!
Are you available to be my PR guy????
What a stud muffin back then! What happened? (Well, it happened to many of us, me included.)
It’s so great that you were able to reconnect with people who were instrumental in your life. All too often we don’t get that chance.
I’m not entirely sure about youth being best lived by the young. I like Ellen Goodman’s saying that we instill values in our children only to crush them when they become adults. The corollary I add to that is that when we get our age we come to find out that the original version was right all along. Those of us who tried as best we could to live the original version found it difficult at times and society would do its best to beat it out of us and/or beat us. But, in the end, usually the original version was the right one all along.