Catch you on the flip side, awesome school

And then you find out that they’re closing down your childhood.

Word came down from the Internet gods last night that the elementary and middle schools I attended will be closing down after this school year. I attended two different campuses, the first, from kindergarten through fourth grade, and the second, from fifth grade through eighth grade. I met some of the best friends I’ve ever had at this school, and we all continue to be close and see each other as often as possible to this day. So when the news broke that the schools would be shutting down, we all felt the loss keenly, and it spread through our Facebook pages and posts like wildfire.

Granted, it seems silly to hope that your school will be where you left it forever and ever. It seems naïve to think that your school will survive all the hardships that so many other schools face, and have faced. It seems immature to be sad that your school is closing, especially since you haven’t stepped foot on its grounds since the 1990s. But here I am, all silly, naïve and immature, and thinking that a grand and special era has ended, simply because the doors are closing.

There is no way to quantify everything that the school gave and taught me, from confidence in myself and pride in my education, to the ability to meet and exceed expectations, and socialize with people. And most especially, I appreciate the friends I made there, those who, more than 30 years later, are my everything: my emotional rocks, my loving hearts, my candid reality checks, my spiritual reboots, and my best times ever.

So, the school is closing, and that’s sad, but I am more than grateful that it was there when I needed it, and that it continues to be an influence on me, and I daresay all those friends, still. It’s just another monument to my youth that will fade into memory, but will remain in my heart.
Also, we all can still sing the fight song.