What We Carry, by Deneane

Nostalgia is an amazing thing. So many things spark memories of my years at Slidell High School. Obviously, reunion years bring musings, but other things do, as well. How many of us have children already in high school? I do, for one. Just the simple act of watching my daughter enjoy her years has recollections washing through me. I had no idea, for instance, that I still know all the words to our alma mater and fight songs.

Think about it. I bet many of you do, as well. I sit in the stands or sell concessions with the other parents on Friday nights and watch the purple and gold Trojans of Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, SC, burst through the gaily decorated paper wall held up by the cheerleaders, but my mind’s eye still sees a band of kelly green and white Tigers charging onto the field. My ears pick up the sounds of the Trojan band playing their fall heroes onto the field, but my heart hears the words “Fight, Tigers, Fight, down the field and show your might....” When I sit in the auditorium of my son’s middle school and watch the drama class struggle valiantly through a production, I find myself back on the stage in the cafetorium, holding hands with my fellow castmates on the final night of the senior play, fighting back tears as we sing the alma mater together, one last time.

How many of us have carried pieces of our years at Slidell High School into the world and placed them somewhere for others to pick up and carry and enjoy? Were any of us so inspired by a teacher, a lesson, or an event that it has cropped up, five, ten, or twenty years later, at moments we could never have anticipated? My children go back to school for the 2005-2006 school year tomorrow. Soon, the student council at my daughter’s high school will begin working to implement a spirit program very similar to the Mark Contest we all remember. And for some reason, the phrase “thy truth shines a guiding light” has been running through my head.

Deneane P.