Fielder’s Choice

I went through another Senior Night Friday.

I’ve experienced several, with three children participating in lots of high school activities.

The recent one was my second this year – one for soccer and this one for cheerleading (football season).

Senior nights stir different emotions – both happiness and sadness. I’ve tried not to let the activities rush past without soaking everything in, taking time to enjoy and realizing each child’s successes.

It’s a different experience with Erin, our third child, because she’s our last one at home. Plus, she’s eight years younger than Andy and 11 years younger than Emma. There is a bit more sadness.

We know we will soon be empty-nesters.

Senior years of high school fly by.

I did not realize that back in 1978-1979. Like most at that age, I was anxiously awaiting getting out of high school. I couldn’t wait to graduate, get out of the house and go to college. And that year seemed like it took forever.

We realize the rapidness of life later on in life.

We experience this almost every week at the newspaper. As we need reference material for something we are working on, a staff member will ask, “When did that run in the paper?”

“I think two or three weeks ago,” I might say.

It turns out it ran in the newspaper three months ago instead.

And I personally experience it every time I open up a small box, on the floor near my desk, that contains old newspaper articles that were saved by my mother. I got it from her house when she passed away almost six years ago.

Pam and I browsed through the box together for a few minutes last week.

There was one of my columns, from my work in Aberdeen, headline, “Whole new ball game almost here.” It was dated May 11, 1994, just eight days before Andy’s birth.

There was a photo of Emma’s second-grade class at Vine Street Elementary in Aberdeen. It was dated April 7, 1999. The students, who had to pretend they were astronauts and were flying to the moon, were displaying models of the space shuttle that would carry them into space. Her teacher, by the way, was Kellie Samsel, who now works for the Marshall County School District in an administrative role.

There was a column about Pam and I purchasing an old house, The Rectory, in Aberdeen in 1996.

Going through all the clippings made us smile and laugh. Some made us cry.

There was a tribute I wrote to my mom on Mother’s Day in 1992.

And the clippings made us realize again just how fast time flies, and how much we really need to enjoy these next few months with Erin as her senior year of high school winds down – rapidly.

Here’s hoping you have “a box” at home, too, with old newspaper clippings. Or maybe a photo album. Or maybe these days, you have your old photos stored on a zip drive.

Pam and I, thanks to my mom and her parents, have lots of memorabilia from days gone by. We’ve complained some about “all the stuff.” But at the same time, we’re blessed we can stir the memories.