Memories, Part 2

Ah, the month of August is upon us. In keeping with my “reminiscing” theme, this was the point of time in the summer when mom would take me to Woolco (later – Kmart) to buy supplies for school. It would be time to find a new backpack – one that would withstand all of the books, notebooks and other crap I would force into it for around 9 months. Then, there would be the search for the perfect trapper keeper – one that was either plan, or had some sort of cool Garfield or Superfriends design on it. Time to find pencils, pens, notebooks, and folders. Time to go to Clover, and/or the Springfield Mall to find cool-clothes to wear for the upcoming school year (I’m guessing this is not as big of a deal anymore, because many schools are going with the “school uniforms.”

It was also time for soccer practice to start … yes, I was (am?) a soccer geek. In high school, we started our training for the upcoming soccer season in early August. We would practice in the mornings and afternoons for weeks leading up to the school year. Sure, it was really tough work, and at the time, I would’ve rather been swimming or sleeping, but I trudged through it. The smell of freshly cut grass will always remind me of that soccer field next to Interboro high school, where I would spend most of my time during the dog days of August.

I particularly remember the jump from middle school to high school. I heard such horror stories about rampant drug use, that I expected drug dealers at every hallway corner … which was never the case. I remember thinking I wasn’t ready for high school, and how classes would be infinitely harder. True, the classes were harder, but they weren’t that much harder.

I also remember thinking about all the new students I would meet (we had four other middle schools feeding into our high school), and getting anxious about meeting new girls. A range of emotions went through me – at one point I would be very excited, at another point, I’d be quite scared … I’d be sad that the days of Glenolden school would be over, and at times be happy about the same thing (if that makes any sense). The anticipation was probably the hardest part of the entire process.