A Walk Back in Time

If you were given the chance to walk back in time, would you really do it?  I came as close to this as possible last Friday, February 7th 2014.

One of the many joys of being a Author of Children’s Books, are events called ‘Author Days’. This is a highlight event in many schools. It can be an all day event, where a chosen author comes and gives multiple presentations to the children of different grades.

As some of you might have picked up on through my other writings, I don’t take my past for granted, and though I am very focused on the future, I love and respect my past. For my first ‘Author Visit’ I was given the blessing and chance to go back to Aldermen Elementary School, in Greensboro, NC, where my brothers and I attended, 40 plus years ago.  

To add to this occasion, my Mother, Father, Son and Girlfriend went with me. The purpose of this visit was for me to read/perform my book, ‘The Day I Learned to Fly’ (http://www.amazon.com/The-Day-Learned-To-Fly/dp/1481974599), which is based on events that happened just around the corner from Alderman Elementary. Clearly Mrs. Burney, the Media Specialist, had sold this day to the kids, because they were very excited about having us on campus.

Stepping out of the car, with the many things that needed to be set up before we started, didn’t give me much time to ‘feel’ my way through this. But I can tell you, things seemed much smaller and the lunch room/auditorium, which seemed to be cavernous to me as a child, wasn’t much bigger than a small store-front church. Walking across the school grounds back when I attended, was like taking a trip across the world, Now I crossed it in a quick 5 minutes.

One of the first big ‘events’ of the day was a guided ‘tour’ by the children who were helpers for Mrs. Burney, in the Media Center. During my tour, my guide, a precious 9 year old, was totally into his role of ‘tour-guide’. As we walked down the hall, he did his best to dramatically point out all the important things for me.

With the grace of a “Price is Right” model or ‘Vanna White’ turning letters on the ‘Wheel of Fortune”, he would perform a flair of his arms, then turn, put one hand on his hip and with the other ‘roll’ it out to point/show me the way.

Our first stop was a real thrill!

“This is the boys room!” my guide stated as if he had just introduced me to the front door of the Taj Mahal.

“Ahh…,” I said, “…that is a good first thing to point out,” and with that he knew he was the ‘king of tour guides’ and this was going to go well. Because of this one sentence of encouragement, I was shown practically every classroom and janitor closet in the building. At one point he walked right past the Principal’s Secretary, and went into the Principal’s office where hips and hands started moving, till he realized where we were at and said, “Oh, we are not supposed to be in here,” and did a quick ‘about face’ and headed out.

As we neared the end of our tour, we were walking down the hallway, which had images painted on the left side of the wall. He was pointing them out and describing them, just as a ‘docent’ in any museum would.

“This is a tree and it has a rock underneath it… and then there is a painting of our State of NC… and that is ‘The Lighthouse’.

It was a 4 foot tall rendition of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, in Buxton, NC. Being someone who has climbed all of the lighthouses (the ones you are allowed to climb), and a lover of history, I thought I would ask my tour guide a question.

“Which lighthouse is this one, do you know, by chance?”

He looked at the wall, cocked his head to the side and said “Oh, this is the Katy Perry Lighthouse,” and with that ‘correct’ answer kept moving on!

Well, I thought to myself, that was special and I learned something new… NC has the only “Katy Perry Lighthouse” in the world! Bet you didn’t know that either. 🙂

As I walked through the halls with Elizabeth, seeing walls, classrooms, and playgrounds that I haven’t been on or in for 40 years, it really took me back and made me so thankful for all that I’ve been given.

When the children filled the Media Center and my presentation started, I would introduce my companions first. To see the attention to my Mom and Dad, as I referred to them as the Mother who has ‘spunky red hair’ and a Father who isn’t ‘afraid of anything’ the children’s eyes were dazzled.

I was hooked and so were they.

For the presentation portion, with good advice from Vicki Anderson, a friend at church, I had highlighted certain passages for the kids to read with me. When the slide came up for the kids to actually read their part and I heard for the first time, 100 + voices read aloud, “You can build almost anything out of 2 x 4’s, nails and hammer… except maybe a submarine,” I turned, looked at Elizabeth, and was engulfed by the time portal God gives us all. It transported me back to my old king size bed, with Cayden as a 5 year old, telling him this story, and watching his eyes light up with imagination. In a flash/zap, almost like a rubber-band popping back, I was present with the kids again and realized, all of those years ago, from when I was a child in this very school, in this very room, destiny had led me, or followed me, or both, to this arrive on this very day!

I realized that time is a precious gift, and I hope that you can take the time to be in the moments of your life to the fullest extent possible… that you flourish, grow and expand your heart of love to those around you every day.

It might be good to follow your heart, and ‘go for a little walk’ every once in a while. Bilbo Baggins is right though…

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.”

You can never tell what adventures lay before you!

I would like to say a big ‘Thank You’ to Danell “Dee” Burney, M.L.S., Alderman Elementary School, for allowing me the chance to speak with her children.

Safe and Peaceful Journeys