August 19, 2009

nathan...did we have chemistry together?


today i got a little e-mail from classmates dot com telling me that two friends had signed my guestbook and if i wanted to see who they were, i needed to fork over the dough. seeing the list of classmates that have registered and the timing, it was easy to figure out the puzzle without spending the money. i looked at photographs of classmates and saw the fuzzy lines and changed shapes of faces over the years. these people are just names now that used to be in my yearbook.

i look and only one person that i used to hang out with is in the list with me. i, along with other friends, ran the streets of montgomery in a little orange maverick that mary drove. we had good times.

now my nephew goes to the magnet school in the old neighborhood. the one that i used to ride with my friends. the baskin robins where we had ice cream is gone. the church where beverly got married is now a day care (excuse me, child learning center). ted's house we carelessly decorated with toilet paper now belongs to someone else, the bricks slowly falling in the front.

my nephew stands on the playground talking to his friends while the car pool line crawls slowly. waiting for the kids to notice we're there. taking care not to honk the horn and call attention to the parental units waiting. he's laughing and talking. his dark hair being ruffled by the wind (or his friends). slowly he turns as i wait. he's growing way too fast but yet he seems so very small.

he dashes to car - 'sorry, sorry' as he knows i've waited a bit. i pretend to be irritated but we laugh. he turns up the volume on the radio. we like to listen to the comedy station as we drive. laughing together at some jokes...me flipping the radio suddenly if they're a bit inappropriate. it's a good time really. i'm glad i got to do this - it makes up a bit for the losses i've had this year. it's all part of the little pieces of happiness we all seek for ourselves.

this is a part of his landscape now. the things he will remember - the brightness of the sun - the heat of the pavement - the leather seats in my car and hopefully, laughter. plenty of laughter.

23 comments:

  1. You are such a good Aunt! He will totally remember listening to the comedy station and laughing with you.

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  2. He will remember all the laughing you do together. I am glad you had a nice day.

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  3. He will remember all the laughing you do together. I am glad you had a nice day.

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  4. when i got started on facebook last year, i only did it to get in touch with ex classmates and people i had lost touch with over the years. and its strange 'seeing' what these people are up to now - seeing what kinds of people they have turned out. in a way its sad too that the girls i used to spend every waking moment with during the two years of senior high are almost unrecognisable now. i guess we change, all of us, in ways that no one can ever predict.

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  5. I love remembering the memory when I gaze through old pictures, not to mention meeting old friends on social networking site :-)

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  6. Enjoy these memory making times with your nephew

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  7. I. Loved. This. Post.

    This brings back such memories of my youngest son. Thank you for this. And thank you for sharing this snippet of your life.

    PS ~ I like the clean look of your blog again.

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  8. Yep, he'll totally remember. And you will too. I've been in a remembering mood lately myself. Relationship memories are the sweetest.

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  9. Why is it that the only people that find me on Classmate and FB are the people that I really have no desire in seeing or talking to?

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  10. this is very thoughtful and a really great post. it's good that you will be in his memories. thank you for sharing this!

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  11. i really enjoyed this post. your nephew will have great memories of these times and it's so nice that you get to be a part of them.
    haha i just now read the post above and it looks like i copied her words. wow sorry (they were the first that came to me)

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  12. someday he'll be writing about his aunt and the special place you hold in his life...

    how amazing will that be ?

    I had a dream the other night where someone who I wasn't friends with in high school has found me on face book and shows up at my front door and I don't know her name and then in walks more and more old classmates and I only slightly recognize the faces but have no names and I stand terrified in a corner...

    that's all I remember of that dream...strange huh ?

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  13. That aunt/nephew relationship is special isn't it. Sounds like you have a good one:)

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  14. You're a memory maker.......So special! I've had the same experience with that classmates.com thingy too! Its crap, I would not pay anything for that....Most of the people I went to school with can be found on FB...and it's free! Free is good.

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  15. moments...I love that word. and it sums up what you are talking about in your post. moments..small parts that are sometimes greater than the whole.

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  16. I grew up with an aunt that married fresh from college and soon divorced and never married again or had children. She, to this day, is my favorite aunt and was a big part of raising my brother and I. She taught me a "secret handshake" where she would squeeze my hand three times to mean "I love you." I now do this with my own son.
    And so, yes, time changes the old neighborhoods and the faces of former classmates but acts of love are never forgotten. They tend to go on and on. This post made me smile and made me want to call my aunt, in other words. :)

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  17. What a vivid painting of a scene from your lives. I feel like I'm right there with you :)

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  18. i had a blue maverick...oh if cars could talk...tee hee

    i relish the connection in today's post of yesterday and the present...both somewhat surreal at times I suppose~
    blessing char you are such a neat blog friend !

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  19. Oh yes, that will be a sweet memory for him. What a beautiful post!

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  20. You know, we make memories for ourselves, and others, every day. You have just created a soft spot for/with your nephew, and someday he may share this moment with someone special to him. Wonderful. Embrace these moments, as they are fleeting. Great post for everyone to read.

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  21. This is so wonderfully nostalgic. It makes me want to write about my old boyfriend. But I won't.

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  22. Awww, I love your stories. This was so wonderful to read. Yes, he will remember all that and especially how cool/fun his aunt is!

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  23. Ah, this one spoke to me, you know how near and dear to my heart being an aunt is to me, it is the most fun. I just went through pics of my niece that I took at the beach this weekend and looking at them all I could think was she is not possibly as grown up as these make her look.

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i feel as if each comment was between us as we sat and sipped something warm....i love to hear what you're thinking.