The Small and the Spirited 8/28/2022

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I don’t remember it but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.  I do have a particularly terrible memory that has only gotten worse after becoming a mom (apparently that whole “baby brain” doesn’t stop even after 6 years).  What I can’t recall was dressing up for spirit days in school. Apparently this is a really big deal for kids in school these days so I have had to scrounge together ensembles involving camouflage, neon colors and even attire from the past.  I don’t think we did this during my tenure in school but apparently in the present this is a big deal to show your school spirit. My child attends the same school that I attended so almost everything she does is laced with nostalgia but also completely new as well. It’s an interesting juxtaposition this being a parent of a child in the school you were a child in.  It is full of endearing memory and then strange foreignness.  Read with me if you will, as I tell you a bit about my tiny alma mater that my daughter and I will one day share.

In a blog that came very early in my blogging venture, I told you about the tiny town in which I live.  If you are unfamiliar with that blog let me assure you that the word tiny in fact may be far too generous of a word. Though it may have grown since I was in school, there is still more pastureland than homes if I had to guess.  The school is the heart of the town. Now I say that and it sounds as if I am just being affectionate but in fact there is not very much that exists in this town so the school really has no choice but to be its epicenter.  Other than the school there is a tire store, a couple of gas stations and a volunteer fire department. See, you only thought I was exaggerating.  Now of course there a decent variety of churches that dot the landscape but in the South we all know churches don’t really count since there isn’t room to swing a cat without hitting a church around these parts. And yes, that is a saying. No, I do not swing my or anyone else’s cat though if you have concern the saying could originate from swinging the cat o’ nine tails giving sailors punishment on ship. But then there is also the sad fact that in the distant past cats were tied by their tails or put in bags and use as targets for sport. I choose to embrace the first explanation of the saying. Also, yes, I did just look that up because when the phrase about swinging cats came to mind its origins had to be deduced or I couldn’t continue without my brain malfunctioning. But I digress with a random and sizeable digression.

It is a miniscule rural town.  It has the pleasure and misfortune of being a group of tightly knit people. At the risk of sounding trite, the population does somewhat feel like a family, especially once your children enter the school.  Suddenly you are gathered into the group that truly is the town like a hen with her chicks. It is for the most part, a quality group of salt-of-the-earth folk who often grew up here themselves.  You do see the spouse that “married in” to the hometown population but they tend to be of a similar caliber and once they are here they just melt into the crowd. The only way you can tell them is that they can’t immediately join in the conversation on the topic discussing back when the little café was right across from the old school and so-and-so used to do such-and-such.  They are definitely good people though. Just this week my child forgot her money she had for the previously mentioned spirit store that happens each Friday of football season. She had excitedly clutched that plastic bag of money all the way to the school and promptly left it lying on the seat as she rushed off to her classroom. I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by the type of people that had already allowed me to electronically pay for her items and have the arrangements made to deliver them to her classroom and I had all that sorted by the time I got in my office.  She shan’t be left without a means to show her school spirit and I cannot express to all of you how excited she was for those school colored shakers and a school colored lei.  I am sure it will pair nicely with her 80s themed outfit for “Dress from the Past” day.

Though it is still the small school in a small town that I grew up in where you can hear the cows from the campus and over half of the teachers are alums or are married to someone that is, there are quite the modern developments. Now students take home laptops to do work on things called virtual learning days.  Each classroom is fitted with a smart screen. For Pete’s sake, they have a brand new elementary school. Gone are the days of ancient, scarred hardwood floors and radiators to keep warm in the winter.  Now we have the shiny glint of newness and modern technology.  It’s a good place though. The warmth and familiarity of the best of a southern small town mix with growth and the cutting edge of advancement all in the middle of cows and hay fields.  And right now these fall Fridays are filled with the excitement of football and kids of all ages are more than happy to show their love for their school, even in the form of an inexplicably colored necklace of nylon flowers.