A life examination

 

Hayter article for July 21, 2024

“How is your life going?”

 

I shall start this morning off by asking you a very personal question. --“What are you living for?” Keep in mind that age has a lot to do with your answer.

 

When I was a child, I lived to play. I enjoyed hide ‘n seek, Red Rover, Monopoly, Checkers, badminton, baseball, football, and camping out in Steve or David’s backyard. 

 

Back then each of us kids had our own worries, but they were generally geared toward “will we or will we not have fun today?” We had a load of stuff to look forward to -- Summer, the Christmas Holidays, vacations with the family, church service being over, and Dad taking us to the movies. That was our life.

 

When I was in the sixth grade on the last day of school, we got a free day outside on the playground. We’d have different games to play and goodies to eat. There would be races, a softball distance-toss, hoola hoop contest, and my favorite – the high jump.

 

I learned how to high jump from my big brother Dennis. Dad set up a sandpit in the backyard so Dennis could practice high jumping. He was good. I was not, but I had practiced with Dennis in the back yard, learning the Western Roll. Back then that’s what they called to best method of high jumping.

 

No other six-grader knew the Western Roll. They tried to just hop over the bar.  Obviously I jumped higher than anyone… until Joe Camarillo walked over. The guy had never high jumped, and knew nothing about the Western Roll. Since he was late to the contest, the bar was raised higher. So, Joe took about five running steps and leaped over the bar, thus winning the contest.

 

Joe was the best athlete I have ever known. He was great in junior high and high school. I don’t know where he went to college, but he got a scholarship somewhere. And, he has no memory of winning the high jump award at Pomeroy Elementary. My main reason for living that day was to win the high jump contest. Here it is 62 years later, and I still remember being the loser at the sixth grade high jump contest. It doesn’t hurt much now, but it visits my brain more than is needed.

 

My best happening in life was running into Kay Cross during our college days. We had pretty much the same friends while in junior high, but went to different high schools. About three years after graduating we met again at the wedding of a couple of our junior high friends. I did a double-take when I saw Kay. She was, uh, just not as I remembered. Charmingly beautiful is what she was.

 

We started dating after that and married almost three years later. So it was the marriage of our friends that brought us together again. That could be a song lyric.

 

The second greatest thing that happened in my life was retirement. My dad died of a heart attack one year after retiring from a refinery. He was so looking forward to retirement and had only one year to enjoy it. The thought still breaks my heart.

 

It’s been a decade-plus since I retired from teaching high school. I was blessed to have had a good job. Teaching was not easy by any means, but it did provide me with a sense of accomplishment. Plus I got to meet so many super young men and women. A great job, and I picked a great time to retire.

 

 On the last day of school for teachers, everyone was in a hurry grading makeup work and checking in 100+ textbooks, as well as accounting for those missing. Also we had to remove the posters in our rooms and check our mailboxes for the last time. 

 

I decided to be among the last people to leave school. I did not enjoy, waiting in line to turn in my textbooks and get signatures from the librarian and department head.  After that the principal signed you out and you were gone. It being the last day of the school year for teachers, most of them raced to get everything done so they could start to enjoy the summer. They would get to see one another again the last week or two of August. I was not among the returnees… and it felt good.

 

As a retiree, I spend a lot less time working on stuff than I did while teaching.  I have several friends who have told me that since retirement they spend more time working at stuff than they did when employed. If you currently feel that way, it means you’re doing retirement all wrong.  

 

Now that Kay and I are retired we don’t live to stay busy. I’ve seldom been a fan of “being busy”. Kay and I, each have our own projects. At the moment my goal is to get my two last novels published. I self-published my first two books, but hope against hope that someone might publish the next two.

 

While I’ve not yet managed to achieve a majority of my goals, I am pleased with my current place in life. I have accepted all of my mistakes and am thankful for whatever success I may have had.

 

Perhaps that’s a goal for each of us. To be accepting of where we are and who we have been throughout our life’s time. And since we’re still around, to remember that there is still time to make memories.

 

end

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