Last Farewell
“Thanks, Mom,” I said as I left the car and stepped onto the sidewalk bordering the park that I grew up with. My friends, Jason and David, were with me. Though they did not even attend George S. Patton Elementary, I wanted a backup plan, just in case I couldn't find any of my old friends. The three of us were walking through the park which contained so many memories and into the field of my elementary school which contained even more.
“So this is your elementary school?” Jason queried. I nodded and smiled. Stepping back onto the green grass changed my perception from a ninth grader back to a sixth grader. To my right, I saw myself clinging to the backstop, reliving a baseball game that happened during P.E. class. On the other side of the field, I tried to imagine myself on the playground, but I couldn't. The shiny red structure was unfamiliar to me. It was completely different from the rusty, plain colored one when I was going to school. Farther down the grass, I saw myself standing in between two tall shady trees, watching the soccer ball fly around the rest of the field. Over on the blacktop, the different booths run by classrooms were set up for the annual Patton Carnival. The Ring Toss game, where if you could throw a hoop around the soda, you get to keep it. Also, the Tic-Tac-Toe game, where you have to throw bean bags into certain holes to make three in a row. My two friends decided to explore the rest of the booths, in the hopes of winning tickets to buy prizes. Meanwhile, I turned towards the middle of the school, where the lunch tables were crowded with people eating freshly cooked burgers sponsored by In-N-Out. In the midst of all the families, I searched for familiar faces.
Luckily, I spotted two of my best friends in elementary, Dakota and Ryan, waiting in line. It’s amazing how much people can change in a single year. Since the last carnival, we rarely spoke outside of a casual chat on Facebook. Thankfully, we still all got along extremely well and had so much to talk about. Most of the conversation was dominated by information about either our school experiences or old friends that we haven't forgotten. For the next hour or so, we sat at the table, just eating those iconic burgers and talking about life. During that time, our old classmates would come and go frequently. The night seemed endless. All the laughs and memories we shared were so refreshing.
But all good things must come to an end. Slowly, one by one, people started peeling away. And as the orange sun set below the horizon, it was time for me to go. My friends, David and Jason, came by, with some random trinkets in hand, and I knew it was my cue to leave. Somehow, I knew that it would be the last time I saw these friends again for a very long time, possibly forever. It is tough saying goodbye sometimes, and this was one of those times. Standing, with one last farewell, I left my past and into the future.
“So this is your elementary school?” Jason queried. I nodded and smiled. Stepping back onto the green grass changed my perception from a ninth grader back to a sixth grader. To my right, I saw myself clinging to the backstop, reliving a baseball game that happened during P.E. class. On the other side of the field, I tried to imagine myself on the playground, but I couldn't. The shiny red structure was unfamiliar to me. It was completely different from the rusty, plain colored one when I was going to school. Farther down the grass, I saw myself standing in between two tall shady trees, watching the soccer ball fly around the rest of the field. Over on the blacktop, the different booths run by classrooms were set up for the annual Patton Carnival. The Ring Toss game, where if you could throw a hoop around the soda, you get to keep it. Also, the Tic-Tac-Toe game, where you have to throw bean bags into certain holes to make three in a row. My two friends decided to explore the rest of the booths, in the hopes of winning tickets to buy prizes. Meanwhile, I turned towards the middle of the school, where the lunch tables were crowded with people eating freshly cooked burgers sponsored by In-N-Out. In the midst of all the families, I searched for familiar faces.
Luckily, I spotted two of my best friends in elementary, Dakota and Ryan, waiting in line. It’s amazing how much people can change in a single year. Since the last carnival, we rarely spoke outside of a casual chat on Facebook. Thankfully, we still all got along extremely well and had so much to talk about. Most of the conversation was dominated by information about either our school experiences or old friends that we haven't forgotten. For the next hour or so, we sat at the table, just eating those iconic burgers and talking about life. During that time, our old classmates would come and go frequently. The night seemed endless. All the laughs and memories we shared were so refreshing.
But all good things must come to an end. Slowly, one by one, people started peeling away. And as the orange sun set below the horizon, it was time for me to go. My friends, David and Jason, came by, with some random trinkets in hand, and I knew it was my cue to leave. Somehow, I knew that it would be the last time I saw these friends again for a very long time, possibly forever. It is tough saying goodbye sometimes, and this was one of those times. Standing, with one last farewell, I left my past and into the future.