Riding The Brakes: 30513 Memories: High School

It became a time when things just got more real than they had ever been before. Suddenly, we were taking tests to earn our driver’s licenses. We went on first dates. There were ball games and proms and other school-related events. We registered in case the draft was re-instituted. Some of us got our first jobs. We pondered what the future held. We were high-school students and the future was ours.

I know back then, in the moments that made up that time, it sure seemed like each day crawled by, slower than Christmas or like a test which you didn't study for. Looking back, it really passed in a flash. Even now, I am not certain I can recall my first day or my last day on the actual campus. I was there though, and now I realize there were many times between the two.

The changes that started in middle school would continue over the next few years before concluding when grade twelve ended. Then, the real changes, the real world, came knocking. Until then, we tuned our radios to Z93 or 94Q or 96 Rock. We watched “The Dukes of Hazzard”, “Three’s Company” and “Dallas” on TV. We cruised through town in our cars, or in our parent’s cars. It was a new world and it was ours.

It was fun ride. In high school, we had a fun crew of teachers and administrators, Daddy Frank, Smoky, Edfred, KD, Coach Hedden, Wild Bill, Hollywood, Ms. Holden. Our school also had a vocational school attached offering practical opportunities to students since a college track isn’t for everyone.

I recall classes with a poor geometry teacher who lost the attention of the class the first day. Once I remember seeing him drive away after school one day with a radio he brought to class on the roof of his car. One time, we locked him out of the classroom when he went outside no doubt to alleviate his stress by burning down a cigarette. I remember once he moved a troublemaker to the desk directly in front of the teacher’s desk. When the teacher would go to the board behind the desk to write something, the troublemaker would use his feet and legs to push the teacher’s desk toward the board. Then he, and the rest of us, would pull our desks forward. This happened until the teacher attempted to turn around only to bump up against his own desk. Sad to say, I don't recall many things about that class other than a series of teenage shenanigans but I can’t help but laugh every time I remember them.

Other classes were good, even sometimes fun. I was challenged by history classes with Mr. Williamson, who referred to "Exxon" as "Ex-e-on". Mrs. Buttram was a great English teacher and even better person. Ms. Holden would rush into the chorus/band room, set her keys on the piano, only to have them lifted by someone then passed from class member to class member every day until the end of class when one of us would hand them back to her. I even recall driver’s education courses with Coach Hedden and a white Chevy Chevette.

I don’t recall eating lunch there often. Usually, I grabbed a bag of cherry sours and that was the only thing I ate the entire day. In between classes, and at lunch time, we just hung out in the commons area. The pairing of friends that really kicked in during middle school became more evident during these times. It seemed certain that these friends would be the ones that would last. For some, they would. For others, more change would follow.

It all ended at 3:14 every afternoon. It’s funny how I can still recall that exact time, isn’t it? Once in awhile now, I look at a clock and see it reading 3:14 and without fail, I think of the mad dash to leave the high school that took place in my specific world just a few hundred times. When that last 3:14 bell rang for my class, no one knew where it would lead us.

Some of us left in a school bus. Some of us left in our own cars. For some, it led us far away from that small mountain town. Some made the military their next stop. Some went off to college, near and far. Some left and never came back. Some stayed close to home, hoping the education just earned was enough to get their foot in the door somewhere so they could stay in the place they loved.

No matter where we all landed, a group of about two hundred of us spent time together for a while. It seemed like the journey would never end but it did on an early summer night in a graduation ceremony on the school’s football field. And, now, looking back, it seems like so long ago, and that the time passed too fast. Still, I sometimes miss the times from then. I miss more the people, the friends from then. I miss being goofy, laughing, even the newness of learning that the time and place there offered. It was a special time and place with special people and I am grateful to have been there.

High school playlist:

Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"

Electric Light Orchestra "Don't Bring Me Down"

Journey "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'"

Santana "Winning"

Fleetwood Mac "Tusk"

Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes"

John Cougar (Mellencamp) "Ain't Even Done With The Night"

Rickie Lee Jones "Chuck E's in Love"

Alabama "Love In The First Degree"

Greg Guidry "Goin' Down"

James Taylor and J.D. Souther "Her Town Too"