Going Back…

For those of you who don’t know, I went to a small school in the suburbs. And when I say small it’s not an understatement. I really mean small. My high school graduating class consisted of 52 people, most of which were enrolled from K-12. We were a close knit group of kids who went through all of those weird and uncomfortable growing pains collectively. It’s no wonder with all of this time together that I still count three of my school mates my closest friends.

Last summer, one of those friends was hired as the art teacher in our old Elementary school. This week, while classes were canceled due to the Central Arkansas Snowpocalypse of 2015, I had a chance to visit her classroom and take a peak around the place I used to visit 9 months out of the year.

To say it has changed is an understatement. The original building is still there but walls have been knocked down, classrooms rearranged and the paint color changed. Lucky for me, the entrance still looked and smelled just as I remembered. It’s amazing how a simple scent can immediately take your mind back to a time or place in your life. I was instantly flooded with memories of myself running through those large double doors, rushing to my classroom, playing on the playground and laughing with friends during lunch.

It was so much fun to be able to walk the halls with a friend who shared those same experiences. We reminisced about old teachers, told stories that were engraved in our memories and laughed about how the little ones now have no idea how much has changed over the last 20 years. Ironically, what was intended as a quick stop to see her classroom turned into an opportunity to travel back in time.

I’m curious if anyone else has had this type of experience. Did you re-visit your old school, childhood home or first job? If so, tell me about it in the comments. I would love to hear your stories