Thursday, October 1, 2009

LOVE

HAPPY OCTOBER!!






And LOVE to all who enter here. The brick is not one of those garden-shop inspirational ones, those with sweet sayings and mottos like Gratitude or Peace or Hope, though I do have several of those scattered about. This old fellow is from back in the late 1800’s---it is the last relic of the small-town school which my Sis and I attended.

It was torn down several years ago, after sitting fallow for quite some time, as the passing years and idle hands created a shambles in its once-filled insides. The building’s eyes, once witness to so much boisterous chatter and lively goings-on, were stone-broken and empty, victim to time and the laughing vandalism of the young---the shards of glass scattered onto the pathways and sidewalks, and onto the small desks inside, still bolted into their face-the-front tableau.

I thought of it over the years, site of all my childhood learning, place of Magellan and Paraguay and Pi, school to my grandparents, my Dad, my own generation of cool cats and Elvis and sweet flirtations in passing hallways, of droning hot afternoons in study hall or class, the wasp-whuzz against the panes as lulling in the heat as Mr. Adams’ monotone in right-after-lunch Math.

When the school was demolished, Sis bought all the hardwood from the gym floor, those pale golden inch-wide planks of our playing field with its echoes of thundering feet, cheering crowds of long-still voices as loud still as the echoes from the Circus Maximus. And Daddy got us each a brick---it was a school legend that kissing beneath or pressed against one of the few out-facing ones with the word LOVE visible on it was almost as good as a Promise Ring---you were steadies thenceforth.

And it’s a wonder that there was an imprint left, for it was Good Luck to run your fingers across one on Exam Day or Finals or that quiz you didn’t study for. Or to grant your wishes that Jimmy Parsons would ask YOU to the after-game dance. I imagined that the grooves of the L and the E looked a bit shallow over the years, eroded by countless finger-smoothings to little shallow wells, and the O a small cup in the brick.

Click to blow it up---let LOVE fill your screen. See the little remnants of mortar in the letters---this fellow probably spent his life lying down between his comrades, laid square and true into the pattern, holding up the whole. And so, no fingermarks, no touches from hopeful small hands, no light-of-day until the wrecking-ball smashed so many of the long-standing bricks, and left mine to fall untouched into the pile. It seems that "my" brick might have been part of a corner of the building, for there's a paler rim around two sides---the deep purple of the face still the dark of the clay and firing, and the two small strips of "frame" could have been rain and sun-bleached into a lighter shade.

We never gave a thought that the word DIDN’T carry happy wishes; the pure commercial aspect that it might be the name of the brick company never entered our romantic little heads. OUR school said LOVE, and even the folks listed as “VISITORS” on the big bright scoreboard would stroll over and touch the word for luck.

And before a game, any game---or even before they boarded the old yellow bus to go to another town for a game, the players all scrambled down the backside of the building, giving a rub to the "V" for VICTORY. It was like the run down the line on the field, slapping the hands of teammates for luck. I'd love to see one of THOSE bricks today, smoothed into a valley by all those rough farmboy hands.

I think about who might have touched it---was it Daddy's teenage hands, so callused at his young age, from the work on the farm? Perhaps my own Grandmother, a blushing young girl whose schooldays ended in the eighth grade, or one of my dear Aunts, beautiful in their teen years, humbled by their homemade clothes and passed-down shoes, and all inspired to do better in their later lives, as they grew into even more beautiful strong, smart women, with dash and flair and lovely outfits and perfume. Was it a young man of my own generation or a hopeful girl I knew, gently tracing the letters, with a wish upon each?

And so I spent my schooldays, in those hot, frozen-in-time, ever-changing days of the evolving South, going every day into those doors, to the scents of chalk and childhood, to be embraced and sheltered by thousands of graven images of
LOVE.

Please have a look-in at http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/ for a lot of other much-loved items on this Vintage Thursday.

17 comments:

  1. How lovely. Thank you for this. I'll be thinking about that brick, and all those hands touching it, all day. What a great story. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. Very nice post. My sister has a brick from our school that is no more. Bittersweet.
    Thanks for sharing!
    Living it up at Lakewood,
    Cindy

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  3. Amazing what memories a simple brick can evoke and you painted them vividly for us. Sounds like you grew up in a great place and it is nice that your family all went there. Thanks for a fun post to read!

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  4. What an amazing story...so touching, and how wonderful you have one of the bricks...This is a real treasure to be had...loved this post so much!

    Have a great Weekend and a wonderful VTT!

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  5. You have a great keepsake from way back when. I enjoyed your story and that you are someone that still feel for the past.

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  6. What a great keepsake, and a great story to go with it! I especially like the part where it was as good as getting a Promise Ring, if you kiss beneath one of those bricks! Sweet memories!
    Happy VTT!

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  7. Happy VTT and thanks for sharing a story...
    Pam

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  8. Thank you so much for sharing these memories. You write well.

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  9. What a beautiful story. Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  10. Warm fuzzy memories! How wonderful that you have a physical piece of it to keep them close!
    Rachel, Mr Concweet had his first trip to the emergency room last evening (all is fine) so check my blog in the comming days for details and pics.

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  11. That OTHER Keetha, the one who was FIRST here with a comment, well she isn't me, but I still find it totally shocking to see HER name on comments!

    Have I ever told you I LOVE the name of your blog, because I do, I really do.

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  12. I don't know how to thank you all for the kind comments---this is just my second time to participate in any kind of theme, and it's so nice to hear from others who show their own lovely things.

    I'm probably the first and only VTT participant to show a plain old BRICK!!

    Indy---Please e-mail me about Mr. C---I hope he's all better today.

    Other Keetha---I'm glad you like the name; it was not my first choice, but "Gatherings" was already taken. I read that blog every day, as well, and it has brought me much entertainment, spiritual nourishment, and a wonderful friend, as well.

    Perhaps in Spring, we'll have a REAL Lawn Tea, to invite everyone to participate in.

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  13. Rachel, there is nothing plain about that beautiful old brick! I know you treasure it as much as the sweet memories it holds for you. Thank you for sharing its story with us -- and that beautiful picture.

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