Friday, May 22, 2009

My soul's mother

IMG_0901Last Friday I went with my wife Camber, Jason H., and Whitney J. to our dear alma mater, Orem High School. The trip was inspired by rumors that they would soon knock our dear school down and pave it over with a parking lot. Those rumors were heavily reinforced by the fact that the old parking lot now has a building under construction that has reached the second floor.

Happily, the new school is behind schedule, so the old school will be used next year as well. That makes me glad. I'll just take another trip there next year.

I'll always be attached to Orem High School, because in many ways, it was in the walls of that building that I became me. There's some moment in everyone's life — and that "moment" typically lasts an entire year — when you exit the amorphous blob that is adolescence and emerge with a distinct personality.

I know, I know, many of you are going to complain and tell me that your 3-year-old has a distinct personality. I say: that's true. The difference is, during childhood and through most of adolescence, our personalities change dramatically and sometimes quickly, as we try to decide who we will be. And at some moment, when we become that person (and this often happens during the course of a year in high school, but sometimes middle school), we are likely going to stay that person for the rest of our lives.

For me this happened my 10th grade year. It's the year that I became me. And it happened within the walls of Orem High School, a place I was happy to spend three years of my life.

And now they're tearing it down! My alma mater, the mother of my soul! I'll have no place to visit in the future, or to take my children, and say: "This is where I survived high school. This is where I became me."

I say, to all the Oremites out there: once the walls come down let's all go steal a brick.

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3 comments:

  1. I took Calculus in E hall from a great teacher who insisted the whole time that girls didn't need math. I was his top student in a class of 3 girls and 30 boys. I love E hall. It's the best one.

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  2. Ah Orem High, even though some people (i.e. Richard M. and Heidi M.) have moved on (which is strange since they met each other in high and never would have gotten married if it hadn't been for Orem High) I will always hold that campus in fond remembrance.

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  3. Please tell me that you also went into the back hall and did some locker-bouncing.

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